Xena: Warrior Princess (TV Series) Prometheus (1995) User Reviews

An alright crossover episode.

[reb-warrior · 7/10 · 15 March 2021]

Prometheus has been captured, and humanity begins to lose his gifts to them, fire and healing.

They bring Hercules and Iolaus on for a crossover episode. They seem to still imply there a romance between Xena and Hercules, but really it's pretty much over as the series goes on. For some reason, they wanted to put Herc's sidekick with Xena's sidekick. Not sure why, it was weird. And yes, I know Gabrielle is more than just a sidekick, but this is how she started off in the series.

The green egg men were odd. The giant bird scene was pretty cool. Xena follows her pattern of willing to sacrifice herself for humanity. Guilt eats away at her and this becomes a theme with her as the series goes on.

There are some pretty good action scenes. I guess people that liked Hercules TLJ might enjoy this one a bit more than usual. It was an ok episode if you can stomach seeing Sorbo. He doesn't have that many scenes, nor dominates the episode. So it's alright 7/10.

Don't you just love crossover episodes?

[Son_of_Mansfield · 8/10 · 29 October 2006]

Hercules and Iolaus join Xena and Gabrielle to release Prometheus, thus giving his gifts back to the world. This is a strong episode from a strong debut season that does a good job of wrapping up the lingering threads of Hercules and Xena's relationship. They must be apart to maximize their ability to do good. The interplay between Lucy Lawless' Xena and Kevin Sorbo's Hercules is still palpable, as is the unfulfilled tease of a relationship between Michael Hurst's Iolaus and Renee O'Connor's Gabrielle. And as with most good episodes of the show, the special effects harm it, but it is a buzz to see Xena and Hercules fight off bird men hatched from giant eggs.

Gabrielle: He's hurt. Xena: Why didn't you say anything? Hercules: Because he is strong of heart and hard of head.

Salute to Xena - A 25th Anniversary Review

[skullface2020 · 9/10 · 18 March 2020]

The god Prometheus needs help, and if he dies then all of mankind will lose the gifts he has bestowed upon them. Xena and Gabrielle undertake a dangerous task with the help of Hercules and his sidekick Iolaus.

SYNOPSIS

Xena handedly defeats a band of thieves who attack her and Gabrielle. In fact, it's so effortless for Xena that Gabrielle sleeps through the entire melee. One of the attackers can't flee since his throat has been cut, but fortunately compassionate Xena takes him into her care and performs a tracheotomy to allow him to breath while his wound heals. Taking shelter in an inn during a storm, it becomes apparent that the throat injury will not heal. This is due to the fact that the goddess Hera has chained Prometheus in order to punish him for his many gifts to the humans, and humanity slowly is losing these gifts as he lies dying. Xena knows that she must act in order to save Prometheus.

Xena seeks an oracle for help in saving Prometheus. It turns out that she must take a special sword to break the chains that are holding him down. However, before she can return to Gabrielle, Hercules and Iolaus have met Gabrielle as they are out searching for Xena. Apparently using this sacred sword to free Prometheus will result in the operator being struck down. Hercules volunteers to sacrifice himself for this task, but of course Xena will not let him do that since they are such close old friends. Agreeing to figure it out later, the four of them make their way to where Prometheus is being held.

It's a dangerous journey, and Iolaus tries to hide an injury he sustains from the blade of an enemy. However, his condition only deteriorates as the ability for humans to heal has not yet been restored. Agreeing to leave Iolaus behind in the company of Gabrielle, Xena and Hercules move forward. Lulling Hercules with conversation, Xena knocks him out and proceeds alone in order to sacrifice her life for the good of humanity. Prometheus is held on a terrifying altar surrounded by large eggs. From these eggs warriors hatch and attack Xena. Hercules catches up to the scene after recovering, and suddenly Xena is captured by a large bird of prey who flies her all around as she tries to fight it off. At this point she drops the sacred sword which hits a large stone that Hercules hoists over his head. The stones deflects the sword causing it to strike the chains binding Prometheus and thus free him. The old friends have saved the day!

NOTES

Hercules is a great friend as well as a brave warrior. He knows Xena pretty well and has faith in her. If she couldn't follow Xena on adventures, Gabrielle would like to study the Athens Academy which is the best place to learn how to be a bard. Special effects have come a long way since 1995.

Enter: Hercules, Iolaus, Prometheus

Love is in the air!

[buehler_trevor · 10/10 · 25 May 2022]

I know Herc and Xena romanced each other in "Unchained Heart" and this episode. Yet I had a feeling since 1998 that Iolaus and Gabrielle did too. In May 1999 I saw that Iolaus and Gabrielle did indeed romance each other when I watched this.

First of the crossovers.

[Joxerlives · 7/10 · 14 May 2021]

The Good; some nice stuff between Xena and Herc/Gabby and Iolaus. I like the scene where they realise Iolaus is hurt and he points out there's just nothing they can do for him under the circumstances so they accept it and leave him.

The Bad; rather ruins the surprise of Herc and friend turning up when they're announced in the opening titles.

Best lines-Gabby (to Xena); "You're not much for girl talk are you? But then you're not like most girls".

Xena cliches;

The pinch; 2 Village threatened by warlord; 2 Xena wounded; 1 Xena doppelganger; 1 Traitorous aide; 1 Fire-breathing; 2, Hot tub; 2, Xena in bondage 2, Gabby in bondage 2.

Xena invents; the tracheotomy and handgliding.

Notches on the headpost; none although Gabby gets a kiss from Iolaus.

Calling Captain Subtext; check out the way the pair embrace when parting to leave Gabby to care for Iolaus. I must say when I first saw it I thought they had just kissed.

Twisted history; Prometheus as portrayed here defied the gods to give mankind healing and fire and was duly punished by them by being chained to a mountain and having a huge bird peck out his liver every night only for it to regrow and be pecked out again the next night. He's actually a Titan and obviously managed to avoid being imprisoned with the rest of them in the cave. In the myth he is indeed freed by Hercules.

Bodycount; 1 guard destroyed by the sword strike and one robber gets a dagger in the throat plus the dinosaur bird. We also have the poor girl at the tavern collapse and die from natural causes.

Xena; 16 humans + one giant bird.

Notes; quite bloody, both the knife in the neck and Xena killing the bird. Of course you now think of Ridley Scott's pretty rubbish film of the same name and the 'Engineers' in it are quite similar to how he is portrayed here. Gabby says that without Xena she would be a travelling bard and study at the Athens academy which we will see later. We also have some prototype Furies in the form of the temple priestesses. Falafel again and our first appearance of Hera in the series (in mythology it was actually Zeus who imprisoned him). The first of the taglines which will become a tradition, announcing that Iolaus was actually hurt but the green egg men were ok (reputedly because Michael Hurst broke his arm and they were forced to rewrite his storyline and give him his injury, more of THAT later). A lot of the music here is reminiscent of Barber's Adagio for strings.

7/10.

The Battling Bard - Extra Cheese with that?

[bennetts-16344 · 6/10 · 9 April 2019]

This episode has an IMDB score of 8.0 at the time of writing so I am out of step with popular opinion on this one. I probably need to come clean and say that I've never watched a Hercules episode. Nothing against the character or actor, it just never appealed, so there was little value added for me in his and Iolaus' inclusion.

The action begins when your archetypal band of robbers sneak up and attack Xena and Gabrielle whilst sleeping. Upon bringing down a sword on Xena's head they realise it's a watermelon with a wig on top. Finding out that Xena and Gabrielle travel with unwieldly fruit and hair pieces was one of the more interesting facts taken from this episode. Xena drops from the trees in a counter suprise move and starts giving the thugs a well deserved thrashing. All this occurs whilst Gabrielle continues to sleep so soundly that we begin to wonder whether Xena drugs her at night. A knife meant for Xena is thrown and ends up in the throat of the gang leader. Xena performs an emergency tracheostomy to keep the man alive. She has many skills.

They take shelter at an Inn whilst a wild storm takes place. Hera has chained the God prometheus. Why she does this isn't explained. Quite frankly he wouldn't have been so easy to capture had not already been lying down, spread eagled, sunbathing. With Prometheus chained up mankind loses the gifts bestowed upon it. These gifts include the gift of fire and the gift of healing. Others may have included the gift of giving, the gift of time and the gift of the gab but they're never referenced. People start dropping down dead, including our hole in the throat friend from earlier.

Xena knows what she must do and travels to a nearby temple to consult the oracle which turns out to be three women attending a Jazzercise programme. They deem Xena worthy to retrieve the sacred sword that will free Prometheus. She then has to navigate a series of Indiana Jones style trials before emerging with the sword. Waiting for her is Hercules who wants to take the sword from her. We find out why later. Xena escapes on Argo.

After an inexplicable meeting with Iolaus in a gift shop, Xena and Gabrielle enter the mountain entrance and are attacked by a hoarde of warriors. Gabrielle stands in the corner holding a rake. Xena is helped out by Hercules and Iolaus but the latter becomes injured, bad news now that everyone is a haemophiliac. We also learn that the reason that Hercules and Xena are fighting over who is going to use the sword is that the person cutting the chains will be turned into ash. Both are in a rush to sacrifice themselves. Gabrielle and Iolaus stay behind and bond.

Xena knocks Hercules out so that she can continue the quest alone. She finds prometheus and what follows next is an extraordinary fight sequence involving green lizard men bursting from eggs and a dinosaur bird that snatches Xena up and flies away. Hercules has recovered at this point so Xena drops the sword from a height and Hercules deflects the sword with a rock to hit the chains without having to deliver the blow himself. Having stabbed her ride in he neck Xena is in free fall but is caught by Hercules. " Nice of you to drop in" he quips using his best cheesy James Bond delivery.

All ends well, Iolaus is saved and our heroes say their emotional goodbyes.

I just felt that the sentimentality was ramped up unnecessarily in this episode. Maybe if I watched their back history first I would have felt differently.

The romantic coupling of Gabrielle and Iolaus felt kind of lazy and given the age gap a little uncomfortable to watch.

Memorable Scene: Well, the fight with the egg men and the prehistoric bird lives long in the memory.

Subtext Watch: Gabrielle: You're not much for girl talk are you? Of course you're not like most girls.

Inspiration? : Jason and the Argonaughts (1963)

Prometheus

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 13 August 2018]

The budget went up on this one. Kevin Sorbo is hired as Hercules and Iolaus crossover from the series Hercules. The special effects budget is ramped up as well, it must have been a matter of pennies as it seems to be a deliberate homage to Ray Harryhausen.

Prometheus is chained and his gift of healing is now lost to mankind. Xena realises this as several people ill people suddenly die. To free him Xena needs to get the sword of Hephaestus to break his chains. Hercules is also after the sword as well and both fight over it.

A fun episode with lo fi special effects.