The Atlantis Project Hercules_in_Atlantis_

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Hercules Conquers Atlantis

aka Ercole alla conquista Atlantide

aka Hercules and the Captive Women

After some good-natured brawling in a local tavern, King Androcles of Thebes, the mighty Hercules and his son Hylas, plus their diminutive companion Timoteo, share an ominous experience. Tiresias, the seer of Thebes, informs them that the Gods have spoken and that a peril from the far West, beyond the straights, threatens all of Greece.

Unable to rally his fellow kings, or their collective citizenry, Androcles gathers an unwilling crew and, with the help of Hylas and Timoteo, drugs and kidnaps Hercules, who had decided to sit this one out.

The sea-voyage is doomed. Mutiny is followed by storm, then shipwreck. Hercules finds himself alone and afloat in misty waters. After praying to Zeus, he locates an island, defeats the shape-shifter Proteus, and rescues Ismene, Princess of Atlantis. The protective mist that long-hid Atlantis from the eyes of intruders is also lifted.

Making their way to Atlantis, they encounter many mysteries. Just who, exactly, is the instrument of true deific will in these particular circumstances? Why would Queen Antinea gleefully sacrifice her own daughter? What is King Androcles doing here? Why does he now have amnesia and firmly support acts of Atlantean imperialism? Why do evil Queens always fall for Hercules, and why are they outraged when he predictably spurns them?

With the guidance of Zenith, Priest of Uranus, the blessings of Zeus, and some help from his companions, including Ismene, Hercules rescues Androcles, rekindles hope in the hearts of doomed mine-slaves, leads an uprising, and thwarts the schemes of Queen Antinea - which include gaining personal immortality, plotting world domination, and misusing the blood of her god to create mutants and a master-race of manly blond clones. He also rights many wrongs, restores balance to the heavens and almost singlehandedly destroys the island-kingdom.

Greece is saved, Androcles is restored, Hylas and Ismene are going steady, Timoteo is unharmed and Hercules is in good spirits. Together, they sail toward the rising sun, and home.

I enjoy this movie a great deal. Reg Park delivers one of my favorite portrayals of the Theban Hercules. And the many unfortunate appeals to, and affirmations of, the Power of Uranus lend much unintended humor to this fun, mythic adventure.

Review by Hercules Invictus

Conqueror of Atlantis

aka Il conquistadore de Atlantide

aka Kingdom in the Sand

Heracles, en route to Greece after fighting the Parthians, finds himself shipwrecked. Virna, a desert princess, rescues, then abandons him. He finds her ring while following her trail.

Wandering the sandy wastes, he assists a small band of warriors beseiged by a larger band of mounted bandits dressed in blue robes. Triumphant, the warriors escorts Heracles to their chieftain, Karr, who promptly challenges him to a test of strength. He is then informed that the bandits work for Assur, Virna's father.

Leaving their company, he locates Virna, returns her ring, and learns that Assur thinks that it is Kerr who leads the raiders. Assur and Kerr then join forces with Heracles to solve the mystery and Virna is kidnapped by the blue-robes. They are heralded by a strange, unearthly noise and have rigid golden hands.

Heracles and Kerr follow their tracks into the desert. Devilish tricks and traps delay them. The tracks lead west, past the Mountain of the Dead Ones into the City of the Phantoms, a necropolis of tombs and ruins cused by Set.

While exploring, our heroes discover Virna's veil. Serpentine Meso-American sigils with a ruby-red eye grace the wall of one of the structures, where they almost succumb to poison gas. Escaping into the desert, they make their way toward a tower decorated by the same golden symbol. Falling through a trap-door, they are captured by Amazons and taken to the Laboratory of Ramir, an eccentric mad scientist.

Breaking free from the women warriors, they are set upon by Ramir's Golden Phantoms. They are easily subdued and taken to the Queen, who is revealed to be Virna. She orders them imprisoned.

Ramir frees them, explains the Golden Phantoms and demonstrates their creation from the corpses of fallen desert warriors. He then reveals that he and his people are a colony of Atlanteans, and explains that Virna is the latest, and last, living vehicle for the undying spirit of an ancient Atlantean Queen. He also gives them a guided tour of their latest, and greatest, technology, including a Mind Control device, and explains how they work.

The aging Queen Ming, now in her own body, summons them and outlines the Atlantean plan for world domination. Heracles and Kerr are rendered unconscious and taken by Amazons who seek to seduce them, only to be executed by the Queen for 'knowing the love of a man', which is against the law in Atlantis. Our heroes are informed by Ramir that they are destined to become his lab-rats and they are imprisoned once again. Heracles knocks down a wall and rescues Virna. Kerr becomes a living robot in the service of Atlantis.

Heracles frees them both from Mind Control and aids their escape. He calls upon Olympus for assistance, confronts both Ramir and Queen Ming, then singlehandedly takes on the Golden Phantoms. He does real well until he is struck down by an Amazon arrow and left for dead. Kerr and Virna reach their people and dedicate their combined forces to defeating Atlantis.

The Queen has meanwhile died and must be mourned. Heracles revives and returns to the Laboratory to destroy the Atlanteans' power sources and environmental controls. Nomads fight the Golden Phantoms beyond the ruined city's walls. A maniacally laughing Ramir points a ray-weapon at Heracles. Despite this, and being called a 'swine' by Ramir, Heracles completes his task and Atlantis topples. A volcano, which was tapped as a power source and controlled by the Atlanteans' antediluvial tech, releases its fury and finishes the job.

The Golden Phantoms fall and are granted the eternal rest long denied them. The nomads rejoice, then head for home. Heracles and Virna, arm in arm, are among them and happy to be together at long last.

Review by Hercules Invictus