What if I told you that two of Disney's greatest heroes teamed up to take down their greatest foes. Some of you may know what I'm talking about for those of you that don't, on February 10, 1999 on Disney's One Saturday Morning, a special cross-over episode of Hercules was aired that featured characters from Aladdin. Historical inaccuracies aside, this was a great episode. Join me as I take a look at this cross-over.
Episode Title
"Hercules and The Arabian Night"
Just as with my Golden Girls review, I have decided to take a look at the episode title. Something that the Hercules TV show did was always include Hercules' name in the title. As seen here and the title is Hercules and The Arabian Night". It's a nice and simple title and it makes a reference to Aladdin.
The Plot
The plot is rather simple as we open on the Underworld with Pain and Panic trembling after having seeing Jafar. They tell Hades and Hades goes to confront Jafar. They get to talking about their foes. They decide to see if they can take out each other's foes as Jafar goes to attack Hercules and Hades sends Pain & Panic to attack Aladdin. After that doesn't work, they kidnap both Aladdin and Herc's best buds.
Characters
Now one thing that I found to be a disappointment was that Iago did not appear in this episode but it does make sense as to why as Jasmine states that she is married. Which means the events of this episode take place after all three of the Aladdin movies and Genie only appears in a non-speaking cameo and it is just his hand. Now I don't what why Genie wasn't in this episode but I guess they just couldn't get Dan Castellaneta ( voice of Genie on the TV Show) to appear. Now as always, I'll be breaking this down into Important Characters, Supporting Characters, and Villians.
Important Characters
Now this cross-over did use one cliche that I found annoying. The misunderstanding, gah that drove me nuts. I'll talk about that a little bit more later on.
Hercules voiced by Tate Donovan
When Hercules is first shown in this episode, we see that he has just finished going through an obstacle course for training. He did okay but he didn't think things through and that becomes a subplot throughout this entire episode. After his training though some monsters are brought to life by Jafar. He is able to take Jafar pretty easily. When we next see him, he is at school looking for his best bud, Icarus who had been kidnapped by Hades and Jafar. Though he was led to believe that Aladdin kidnapped him. As I stated there is a subplot involving Herc not using his head but it comes into play and in a way that shows some character development of this character on this episode.
Aladdin voiced by Scott Weinger
When we first see Aladdin, it is during a fight with Pain and Panic that is able to win rather easily by tricking the imps to open the lamp and then they get punched by The Genie. When we next see him it is after Abu and Icarus had been kidnapped and he is confronted by Pain and Panic in disguise as Hercules leading to believe that Herc took Abu. Next we see him take part in a fight with Hercules because of the misunderstanding. Aladdin almost wins the fight by trying to use Herc's strength against him. Then Herc asks Aladdin not to harm his freind. This is where the misunderstanding comes in and I know that this is only a 30 minute kid's show but I feel like that was resolved too quickly. Because Aladdin and Herc fight then Herc mentions that his freind mentioned that his freind was kidnapped and Aladdin is like Oops. While there was resolution, it just felt rushed.
Supporting Characters
Now there are quite a few supporting characters to talk about. So, let's begin.
Phil voiced by Robert Costanzo
Now seeing as the Hercules TV show was a prequel to the film, Herc was still in training as I mentioned above. Therefore he still worked with Phil. His role in this episode while not minor wasn't a major role. He played a part in the subplot of getting Herc to think things through and not just rush through. Though there is one funny moment when he hits on Jasmine. Other than that he doesn't have a big role but he doesn't need one here as the story is more about Aladdin and Hercules.
Jasmine voiced by Linda Larkin
Now while Jasmine's role isn't too big, it is a bit bigger than Phil's role. Heck when Pain & Panic first come to Agrabah she helps Aladdin fight and take down Pain & Panic. I will note that while the trickery was a nice touch, I found the way the lines were delivered rather annoying as it was painfully obvious that they were tricking them. Just as with Aladdin, she doesn't take too kindly to Herc when he first shows up to Agrabah but after some discussing and logical thinking, Herc mentions his fight with Jafar. Which scares and confuses both Aladdin and Jasmine as the last time they saw Jafar he had died. After that though, we don't see her again until the end of the episode.
Abu voiced by Frank Welker
Now when Pain & Panic first arrive in Agrabah, they mistake Abu for Aladdin. Don't ask, they aren't the smartest characters in the world. Abu doesn't do much during this episode but he is kidnapped by Pain & Panic using a banana trail. He along with Icarus are held captive in the Underwold and tied up. Though Abu uses his tail to pick the lock. Abu was actually a lot of fun in this episode and just showed how smart he can be with opening the lock.
Icarus voiced by French Stewart
Now Icarus is Herc's best bud and just as with Abu, he is kidnapped. Also using a bannana trail. I get the joke that it was supposed to be funny that he was lured with the same thing Abus was but honestly I didn't care for that joke. Though to a certian extent, he does play an important role if only for the fact that he needs to be rescued. Other than that he doesn't really do much.
The Villians
Hades voiced by James Woods
Now just like in the film, Hades wants to take down Hercules. I really think he works well off of Jafar because there is a nice blend of comedy between the two. I especially love how he reacts after he loses to Aladdin. He is just calm, cool and collected, ready to move on to his next plan. His dry wit comes in well and it is a nice comparsion to Jafar.
Jafar voiced by Jonthan Freeman
When we first see Jafar, he is a ghost of his former self (literally), when he is in line to enter the Underworld and he feels that this is a grave mistake. After a while, he gets to talking about Aladdin with Hades and the two start comparing their foes and how they would have a hard time taking down each other's foes. Jafar decides to take on Herc but as I stated above, Herc won. Jafar doesn't take to kindly to this and is outraged by his loss. Later when Hades takes on Aladdin and his minions lose, Jafar seems almost insulted at the fact Hades blows off his loss. The only way he is kept alive is by his staff as Hades had made it to where so long as he holds that he is human. In the final fight he is defeated quite easily by Aladdin and Herc, who just swap clothes and pertend to be each other and with this confusing Jafar, he is angered. Afterwards, Herc breaks the staff which finall kills Jafar. Like I said, Jafar was over the top and all over the place but it was hysterical. It was just so much fun to have Jafar team up with Hades and they made a great duo. Honestly I feel that the chemistry between the villains was stronger than the chemistry between the heroes in this episode.
My Final Thoughts
I remember as a kid that I thought this cross-over was really cool. Looking back now, while I still like the idea of Aladdin and Hercules teaming up, it doesn't up hold as well. As I stated the misunderstanding cliche made me groan and the fights seemed to end too quickly. It felt as though that Aladdin and Herc's fight lasted the longest. Also, it felt as though Jafar and Hades overshadowed the heroes in this episode. While not a bad episode, it doesn't hold up. Though it is fun to watch but it does have it's flaws. Even with the little flaws that it has, I still found some enjoyment in it.
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