Hercules and Xena Word Find Puzzle

I was going to finally update my web site pages this three-day weekend in the USA, and I find I have an update to this page that I never expected to make. If you haven't already heard, the New Zealand actor who played Ares in all of the various Hercules and Xena series, Kevin Smith, died as a result of injuries suffered on a movie set on February 15, 2002. He was 38-years-old.

Ironically, this weekend is the big Pasadena Annual Official Xena Convention. Taking the theme "family reunion," stars Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor were scheduled to attend, as well as nearly every featured actor who was ever on the show, including Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, Hudson Leick, and Alexandra Tydings, as well as "Hercules" co-star Michael Hurst. Just about the only ones who couldn't be there were Kevin Sorbo, probably due to his taping his show, "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda," and Kevin Smith, due to the movie shoot.

Kevin Smith was to "Hercules" and "Xena" what James "Spike" Marsters currently is to the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" TV show -- funny, forceful, an undeniable presence. He brought a real joy for life to the entire Hercules/Xena TV mythology, whether playing Ares as a vengeful menace, a farcical dupe, or a vulnerable lovesick puppy dog. He had it all: the dancing eyes, the rippling muscles, the sexy goatee, the crack comic timing. Plus he could sing like an angel! He won't be forgotten. He will be missed.

-- Valsadie, 02/16/2002

From Zepgirl's Kevin Smith page, the FIRST Kevin Smith web fan page (really!)

RIP Kevin Smith 1963-2002

See screen captures of Kevin from Hercules and Xena episodes at

Yes, you have been living under a rock if you haven't at least heard of the syndicated television programs, "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" and "Xena: Warrior Princess." Come on, there are dolls -- er, "action figures"-- of both Hercules and Xena out there, for goodness' sake! There's an animated film, "Hercules and Xena - The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus" (read about its special presentation, complete with appearances by Kevin "Hercules" Sorbo and Lucy "Xena" Lawless, at the 1997 VSDA/Video Software Dealers Convention, courtesy of Xena fan Stacey), that was released on home video on January 6, 1998 (which I suspect might have been released theatrically if not for Disney's 1997 "Hercules" animated film).

And if you still won't hear me on this, consider that none other than the American Library Association chose the two for the ALA's recognized character "READ" posters, along with Xena's sidekick, Gabrielle; see below for ordering information.

In any case, I bid a fond farewell to "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," as it broadcast its final original episode, "Full Circle," in November of 1999. Yes, after about six years spent mostly in New Zealand in which he literally enthralled the world with his portrayal of Hercules, Kevin Sorbo has decided to bring these legendary journeys to a close. Read Kevin's final "Hercules" interview with "Entertainment Tonight." But it's not completely goodbye. "Hercules" lives on in rerun syndication (on the Sci Fi cable channel, though it may eventually return to the USA Networks cable channel), and Kevin Sorbo has moved from the ancient past to the space-age future, currently starring in "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda," a top-rated action series in syndication created from an original idea by the late Gene Roddenberry, who's most famous for his various "Star Trek" series.

And I also bid a fond farewell to "Xena: Warrior Princess" as well. "Xena" aired its final episode in 2001. A spin-off which eventually surpassed even the great success of record-breaking "Hercules," "Xena" became one of the most popular action series of all time. The show is in rerun syndication on the Oxygen cable channel.

Hercules and Xena Word Find Puzzle Instructions: Complete the sentence clues below, and then find the words in the puzzle. The words are hidden across, down, and diagonally, both forwards and backwards.

Click on the links in the sentence clues to find out more about the clues. Click on Puzzle Solution below to see the solved puzzle.

Have fun :>!

P.S. Yet again, the letters left over don't spell anything. Still waiting for that muse to strike me...

1. Played by the great and muscular _____ Sorbo, Hercules is a hero of much might -- and a mighty sense of humor!

2. Played by the fearless ____ Lawless, Xena is a fiery heroine of strength and intelligence.

3. Hercules’ sidekick, Iolaus, is played by the amazingly multi-talented song-and-dance-and-Shakespeare-man, _______ Hurst of New Zealand.

4. Xena's sidekick, Gabrielle, is played with both quiet dramatic power and quick comic timing by _____ O'Connor of America.

5. The slickest salesman this side of Corinth is Salmoneus, played by the "palindromically-named" ______ ______.

6. Not to be trifled with is Hercules' half-brother, the merciless and wrathful Ares, God of War, played by _____ _____.

7. Nepotism, schmepotism! Joxer the Mighty is played by ___ Raimi, brother of series' producer Sam Raimi (click here for more Joxer wav files!).

8. Xena's arch-enemy is the vicious, two-donuts-short-of-a-dozen Callisto, played by ______ _____.

9. Hercules' half-sister, Aphrodite, seemingly the Very First Valley Girl, is played by Brown University graduate, _________ _______.

10. The incorrigible King of Thieves, Autolycus, is wryly played by _____ _______.

11. Hercules was one of the "Argonauts" who accompanied Jason on his quest for the golden fleece. Jason later married Hercules' mother, _______, and proclaimed Hercules' half-brother, ________, the king of Corinth in his stead.

12. When Gabrielle and Xena were taken prisoner in the second season's "Lost Mariner" episode, by accursed sailor captain, __________, and Gabrielle was pitifully seasick, Xena showed her a pressure point trick to lessen the effects, in which a side effect was that Gabrielle developed a real taste for raw _____ .

13. On June 13, 1997, Universal Studios in the state of _______ opened an amusement park attraction based on Hercules and Xena. You could make like you were a part of the cast or crew of the shows! Sadly, though, the attraction closed on September 2, 1999.

14. Hercules and Xena are the two parts of the Universal/MCA Action ____ .

*About the puzzle: What, want to print out the puzzle to do later but can't due to the (sometimes frustrating!) ways and wiles of HTML? Try using the freeware program Screen Print 32. Basically, it lets the "Print Scrn" button (or equivalent) on your keyboard work in the Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP environment.

For the Hercules & Xena Puzzle above, you can print out the whole thing by first setting your screen to (new smaller screen size!) 800 x 600 and "framing" the puzzle on your screen (it may help to remove the various toolbars of the browser; see "Options" in Navigator and "View" in Explorer -- or you can try pressing F11 in Explorer for the "full screen" feature). Then open Screen Print 32 and set the width and height to 800 and 600 as well. Click OK. Push the "Print Scrn" button (or equivalent) on your keyboard. The puzzle should print out all on one page. It worked for me. Good luck :>!!

The television series "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" and "Xena: Warrior Princess" and all accompanying logos are the inventive creations of Renaissance Pictures and Flat Earth Productions and are distributed by MCA/Universal Television Studios. This is a fan page, only a fan page. And most of all I want to say of the two shows' executive producers: Rob Tapert is very sexy and Sam Raimi is a genius :>!

News You Can Use and Links You Can Go To!

* To get the real deal on Hercules and Xena, click over to Creation Entertainment! See the Official Xena: Warrior Princess Fan Club and the Official Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Fan Club. See this site for the latest licensed merchandise, but most of all for the official Hercules and Xena convention news!

* Learn more about some of the other actors who regularly appear on Xena, Hercules, Young Hercules, or some crafty combination of the two -- or three! Seriously, the actors who comprise a kind of "third tier" of regular characters on the shows are a dedicated and talented group. Their contribution to the success story of the Hercules, Xena, and Young Hercules television shows should not be discounted. These actors include Joel "Strife/Deimos" Tobeck, Danielle "Ephiny" Cormack, Karl "Cupid/Julius Ceasar" Urban, and Gina "Nebula/Cleopatra" Torres. Click here for a more complete list of these actors and web sites for them at Xena Online Resources.

* See the Hercules and Xena episode guides that are on the web!

* And speaking of recurring actors and episode guides, check out the special Hercules and Xena Episode Guide & Gallery at the official web page for Bruce Campbell -- better known as Autolycus (hey, check out the whole site! It's real fab!).

* Visit even more Hercules and Xena web pages. Visit even more Iolaus and Gabrielle pages.

* A hilarious Xena parody! It's an excellent take on Xena doing a song from Gilbert & Sullivan's famous "Pirates of Penzance" comic operetta. Yes, yes, she is a buff barbarian! Even if you don't know the song, Kevin Wald's work here is exemplary (see a whole list of Gilbert & Sullivan song parodies here).

* Check out the Xena Multipath Movies from Brilliant Digital Entertainment! Click through and download the small 700kb plug-in for a free preview of three interactive 3D animated features, including one based on the fun-filled Bacchae/vampire-biting "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" Xena episode :>! You'll see that as the clip plays, a couple of times you'll be presented with two choices as to how the story should progress. Click on a choice and the story continues according to your choice. It means that each time you play the clip, you can make a different decision and get a new story each time. All three clips are available for sale on CD-ROM.

* Also see the Xena word search puzzle at Mags' Puzzle Site, "A site for Word Search Puzzles" (there's also The Matrix, Buffy, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine word search puzzles -- and look into getting the Vitalize plug-in, which allows you to click on the letters in the "Vitalized" version of the puzzles, "selecting" them, thus giving you a truly internet word search puzzle!).

* The offered prizes have been won, but the games are still up! See the word search and crossword puzzles at Xorys' Xena Warrior Princess Page.

And don't forget to check out the gaming links at the official Studios USA web sites, including:

American Library Association Posters!

All about the American Library Association (ALA) Hercules, Xena, and Gabrielle READ posters -- which are no longer available, actually... But see what they looked like below.

Val's Little Hercules and Xena Bookstore

These are just some of the titles available from Amazon.com bookstore, "Earth's Biggest Bookstore." For more, search their inventory database yourself using the above search window. This search window will take any word or phrase as a search term, including Xena or Hercules, or look up some of the more highly regarded books of Greek mythology, including Bulfinch's Mythology, Edith Hamilton's Mythology (classic!), and Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Amazon.com is pleased to have Val's Hercules and Xena Word Find Puzzle in the family of Amazon.com Associates. We've agreed to ship books and provide customer service for orders we receive through special links on Val's Hercules and Xena Word Find Puzzle. Amazon.com Associates list selected books in an editorial context that helps you choose the right books. We encourage you to visit Val's Hercules and Xena Word Find Puzzle often to see what new books she's selected for you. Thank you for shopping with an Amazon.com Associate.
Sincerely, Jeff Bezos, Founder & CEO, Amazon.com
P.S. We guarantee you the same high level of customer service you would receive at Amazon.com. If you have a question about an order you've placed, please don't hesitate to contact us.

* Visit the official online Hercules and Xena stores and check out the various merchandise available, from hats and t-shirts to coffee mugs and show scripts. Also, call 1-800-332-4907 for a free color catalog!

Xena Warrior Princess - Season One	Xena Warrior Princess - Season Two
Hercules The Legendary Journeys - Season 1	Hercules The Legendary Journeys - Season 2

	Hercules, the Legendary Journeys: The Official Companion		Xena - Warrior Princess: The Official Guide to the Xenaverse		Hercules & Xena: The Unofficial Companion
	Battle On! : An Unauthorized, Irreverent Look at Xena: Warrior Princess		Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor: Warriors Stars of Xena		Xena: All I Need to Know I Learned from the Warrior Princess

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Posters ©1997 American Library Association. Used by permission.

Raves abound for the Xena soundtrack released in June, 1999. Click over and see...	Raves continue for the Hercules soundtrack also released in June, 1999 (great picture of Kevin too!). Click over and see...
Soundtrack to the dynamic musical Xena episode, "Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire," which features reworkings of such popular songs as "Sisters are Doing It for Themselves," "War," "People Got to Be Free," and "Always Something There to Remind Me." Click over for song clips!

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And if you still won't hear me on this, consider that none other than the American Library Association chose the two for the ALA's recognized character "READ" posters, along with Xena's sidekick, Gabrielle; see below for ordering information.