To be rewritten shortly!
Auburn-tressed, purple-eyed Megara is as striking as her features: tart, relaxed, and sassy. But upon her lover's death, this poise is cracked, and she sacrifices her very soul to save him. His appreciation extends for but a moment and he is in another woman's arms. Megara is heartbroken. Sarcastic and bitter, she quickly develops an unflinching distaste for romance and romanticized ideals. Not to mention the opposite gender ... until she meets Hercules.
But for the differences in their personalities and character design, their internal conflicts are sadly similar. As Hercules is ejected from Mount Olympus and rejected by the mortal realm, Megara is also an outcast. As supervising animator Ken Duncan explains, "To her, Hercules is just like any other man, someone to distrust. As the film goes along, she finds out he's basically a loner [...] Meg's a loner, too, so they have more in common than she originally thought." Haunted by her former romance, she can no longer love without completely anticipating hurt. After this unguarded confession, Hercules warmly confides in and deeply empathizes with her. Touched, Megara can't resist his sincerity any longer, and reluctantly returns his affections. Their ensuing situations echo each other, too, as Megara sacrifices herself to protect Hercules, Hercules returns her selflessness when actively exchanging his life for hers in the Underworld.
Tate Donovan voices our hero. He comments, ''When you audition, you don't know what they want. The director says 'Herc's young, he's eager -- and he wants to do what's right' -- and you just wing it.'' As young and eager as Hercules is, Donovan has a handsome skill for different characters; he has played the wide-eyed sweetheart (Paul Matthews in ''Love Potion Number Nine''), as well as the rebellious cad (Kevin Donaldson in ''SpaceCamp''). He has also been a featured regular in television series such as ''Partners,'' ''The O.C.,'' and ''Damages,'' and has appeared on and off Broadway. He says that when voicing Hercules he ''would do push-ups before some of the action sequences, that way I would appear to be out of breath. Does that count?'' He also believes that ''It's great to play a guy who wants to be a hero just for the glamour of it all, but then finds fame hollow, falls in love, and learns true heroism. It's also pretty exciting to have people imagine I might look like that when all I had to do was a couple of push-ups and I was ready to go.'' Though imagining may not even be necessary; one could say that Hercules is a very rough caricature of Donovan. It certainly would explain why he's so adorable!
''Tate Donovan's voice just gave me a good spring board; he's a very, very good actor -- lively and an energy that has a naive quality,'' agrees Andreas Deja, the supervising animator for Hercules. Having had experience in designing numerous antagonists in Walt Disney features of the past (Gaston in ''Beauty and the Beast,'' Jafar in ''Aladdin,'' and Scar in ''The Lion King''), Deja welcomed the challenge of creating the title-bound protagonist. Unlike Glen Keane's volleyball player physique influences for Aladdin, Andreas Deja studied Olympic athlete photographs for Hercules. He adopted the general physique of a swimmer, as they possess a ''natural musculature.'' As for Herc's general design, Deja comments: ''I started drawing a straight nose, Greek profile, big, vivid, sensitive eyes. He's got short hair with Art Deco-style parallel curls that wrap around the back of his long neck, a bit geeky with his slight slouch but friendly, caring, vulnerable, optimistic, and unaware of his looks.'' He adds of the final design, ''Everyone from Michael Eisner to Ron and John saw that one drawing and said, 'That's him!' I still keep it over my desk.''
Unusually, Hercules receives extended life beyond his feature film -- a rare privilege for the standard animated character. When thrust into a wide variety of different mediums, it is interesting to see how our hero translates.
Hercules: The Animated Series; 1998: In spirit of Hercules' gawky youth, it was decided that an animated series should follow his adventures (among misadventures) as a sixteen-year-old, self-proclaimed ''hero ... in training.'' The series entertainingly parodies franchises from Batman to James Bond, clashes pop culture wit against ancient mythologies, and became responsible for one of the first Walt Disney animated series crossovers. Even though he only appears three times as a full-fledged adult, the series remains clever and endearing.
House of Mouse; 2001: Instead of a feature-length animated film celebrating Walt Disney's complete collection of animated characters, a television series instead debuted. The "House of Mouse" series featured an evening club that played animated shorts to it's audience of feature-found Disney characters. Commonly, Hercules appeared alongside either Megara or Phil, and was once or twice used in a speaking or interactive role. But not unlike other animated characters, he was usually shuffled into a cameo appearance.
Kingdom Hearts; 2002, 2004, 2006: Unusually but amazingly, a video game adventure plunging Walt Disney and Final Fantasy characters together was created. Hercules himself is fully realized (along with other characters of the Disney archives), and seems to translate flawlessly into the franchise's three-dimensional requirement. He returns in the second installment, ''Kingdom Hearts II,'' in which he is featured to a larger extent, among the GameBoy installment, ''Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.'' Revamped for a second time, his anime-like appearance cements the franchise in volumes two and three of the "Kingdom Hearts" comic book.
Disney Heroes; 2004: In light of the popular Disney Princess line, it isn't surprising that the Disney Heroes should trot protectively at their heels. The team includes Aladdin (suspiciously later replaced by Prince Phillip), Tarzan, Peter Pan, and, of course, Hercules. Featured in stylized clip art on a variety of merchandise, they are the perfect compliment to their sister line. And in what looks like the result of a scuffle between Stan Lee and Michael Eisner, the Disney Heroes line was revolutionized. Recently, each hero has embraced an emasculated appearance, and features exclusive armour and accessories to his time period, respectively.
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After "rescuing" her from the centaur Nessus, Megara quickly repents Hercules' awkward advances, and the undaunted Hercules remains steadfastly smitten with her. The two loudly contrast in other ways, as well: as Hercules is gentle, shy, and often befuddled, Megara is taunt, blunt, and self-assured. These differences are welcomed visually, too, as Hercules' rounded muscle highly compliments Megara's sharp curves. Not unusually, the couples' hair also promotes this balance: as Hercules' gold curls are outlined in a fine auburn, Megara's auburn tresses are shaped by a few, soft gold lines.
