1.42 - The Prize

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Title The Prize Episode # Season 1, Episode 42 First aired February 25, 1999 Directed by Chris Graves Written by Michael Edens Julia Lewald (Teleplay) Summary Ares competes against Iolaus and Herc in a talent contest to win a piece of the Kronos Stone.

FoxKids Spoilers

• Ares is anxious to collect the five pieces of the awesomely powerful Cronos Stone that Zeus shattered and threw to the ends of existence after Zeus used it to defeat the Titans eons ago. Ares has acquired two and believes he's found the third: unsuspectingly donated by as a prize in a talent contest at Kora's Inn. But Ares can't just take' the piece; in order for it to amplify a God's power, the god must receive each piece 'freely from the hands of a mortal'. Ares is forced to mingle with mortals and enter the talent contest in order to win the piece. When Hercules realizes that Ares has arrived (as well as Strife and Discord, Who want the piece safe. That means Hercules has to enter the talent contest and 'beat' Ares (who's a really good singer). Ares finally blows his cool when he doesn't get the piece; he starts blasting apart Kora's Inn. But Hercules surprises everyone (including himself) when the piece amplifies his own half-god powers. Hercules square off, but Hercules realizes that, to keep the piece from ever falling into Ares's hands, Hercules has to give it up himself. That means hurling the piece all the way to the ocean... and then cleaning up Kora's Inn.
• Ares (Kevin Smith) considers cheating to win a talent contest that, as a prize, offers one of the fabled Cronos stones, which he needs to complete his set and enhance his powers.

TV Guide Promo

• Ares must enter a talent show at Kora's Inn when he learns that one of the prizes would complete his set of the Cronos stones, that enabled Zeus to defeat the Titans. The catch is a mortal must willingly give it to him, so with Strife and Discord in tow, he enters intent on winning and more than willing to cheat to get it, leaving Hercules and his friends to stop him.

Synopsis

Title card - End credits can be found here.

To Be Added

Characters (in order of appearance)

• Hercules
• Iolaus
• Discord
• Kora
• Ares
• Strife
• The Plate-Spinner
• Petra, Paula, and Murray
• The Mime
• The Amazing Amarta

Characters (mention only)

• Zeus

Items

• Kronos Stone
• Hercules's Lyre
  • More items from this episode...

Television Tropes

• Plot Tropes:
  • New Super Power

Quotes

Ares: Zeus decreed that the pieces of the Kronos Stone would be powerless unless a god received each one freely from the hands of a mortal. Now, do you know how hard that is?
Strife: Come on. With your winning personality and good old-fashioned people skills?

Hercules: Oh, Hi. You must be here for the talent contest. Can I get your name?

Ares: Ares.
Hercules: Ares, alright. And your occupation?

Ares: God of War.

Ares: Chill cats, be cool. Don't think of me as the God of War. Think of me as the King of Swing!

Ares: Run, fools. Run from the God of War!

Ares: Typical. You don't know what you got, you don't know how to use it.

Hercules: That's not important to me. What's important is the fact that I have it and you don't.
Ares: Not for long.
Hercules: Yeah? You want to play rough? Well you can say hello to my little friend, mister! (he shoots a energy bolt into the chain of the chandelier that's above Ares)
Ares: That is so you. You get your hands on the Kronos Stone, you can't hit what you're aiming at.

Hercules: No, I can. And I did.

Iolaus: Hey, I bet it was, uh, fun while it lasted. The zzzzt, Power thing.

Hercules: The zzzzt? Yeah.
Iolaus: Kinda like the power I exhibited when I was on stage.
Hercules: What?
Iolaus: The song and I became one, man. I... I was toying with the audience. They were like, kinda like putty in my hands. It wasn't actually fair to the other competitors.
Hercules: Iolaus, All the other competitors messed up.

Iolaus: No, no, no, no. That's what they are telling themselves to hide the pain of losing to me, losing to my beautiful performance.

Trivia & References

Pop Culture References and Greekisms - The flute trio Petra, Paula, and Murray is a nod to the famous folk singers Peter, Paul, and Mary.

Pop Culture References and Greekisms - Ares's singing definitely carries an influence from Elvis Presley. Kevin Smith had also played the role of Elvis in a New Zealand tour of Are You Lonesome, Tonight?, and did Elvis impersonations at parties.

Pop Culture References and Greekisms - Hercules's line, "You can say hello to my little friend!" is a paraphrase of the famous line by Al Pacino from the movie Scarface.

Pop Culture References and Greekisms - Ares's line, "There can only be one!" might be a reference to the Highlander movies and TV series.

Pop Culture References and Greekisms - Strife's make-up for Ares's number is reminiscent of that worn by the hard rock band Kiss.

Continuity Warning - Hercules plays the lyre and sings back up music when the cadets do their talent number. In HtLJ, "5.14 - Just Passing Through", Hercules says to Iolaus that one of his biggest regrets in life is never learning how to play a musical instrument.

Guides, Scripts, Transcripts, & Reviews

• The Prize Shooting Draft
• The Prize Transcript (Dialogue Only)
• Bryn's transcript.
• IMDB's Episode Guide
• TV.com's Episode Guide
• ShareTV's Episode Guide
• Watch the full episode online at Hulu.com.
• Ty's Reviews: 1.42- The Prize

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