Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) is aboard a transport ship when it is blown off course into a fast-approaching electrical storm. Unfortunately, he is unable to help the ship's captain, Demitrius (Ross Harper), and his crew turn the vessel around. As the winds pick up, a strange hum begins to grow louder and suddenly, the sky around the ship is glowing with an eerie light. A huge bolt of lightning rips through the fog and tears a hole in the hull of the ship. Before the men have time to man the lifeboats, an oil fire ignites on deck and the ship goes up in flames. Hercules is tossed overboard and when he finally washes ashore, he finds himself staring up into the angelic face of Cassandra (Claudia Black), who tells him he has reached the island of Atlantis and is probably the only shipwreck survivor.
Cassandra leads Hercules back to her cabin in the woods, where she tells him that he's no stranger to her. She explains that she's seen him in dreams -- which are actually more like visions of things to come -- and in a recent one, he saved her life. She further reveals that Atlantis is going to be destroyed. Cassandra recalls her latest nightmare in which she's falling through a huge gaping fissure in the ground, but is caught at the last moment by Hercules. Insisting she knows her premonitions will come to pass, the young woman tells him that she's been afraid to confide in the citizens of Atlantis, who have shunned her for being a nonconformist and living on the fringes of their scientifically advanced society. Hercules urges her to put aside her fears and offers to go with her to the town council meeting to warn the people.
As the two journey towards the center of the beautiful bustling city, sleek gliders soar overhead. Cassandra reveals that these amazing flying machines are used by King Panthius' (James Beaumont) guards to patrol the island. In the town square, vendors are selling all kinds of high-tech appliances and gadgets, which Cassandra explains are powered by crystals. At the council meeting, when Cassandra reports her visions about the imminent destruction of Atlantis, she is mocked and denounced by the king and the assembled crowd. When Hercules suggests that they should think about what she's said, Panthius grows even angrier. Later that night, an incensed mob marches to Cassandra's cabin in the woods and sets the place on fire. In a dazzling display of courage and strength, Hercules saves her, much to the amazement of the mob whose fervor has now been replaced by genuine fear.
When tales of Hercules' feat reach Panthius, he becomes enraged and dispatches his head guard, Skirner (William Davis), to arrest Cassandra and her dangerous new friend. Hercules is knocked unconscious by a deadly sceptre-shaped weapon powered by crystals, and wakes up in the king's throne room with a shackled Cassandra at his side. Bragging that there's no threat he can't overcome, Panthius reveals his secret weapon -- a giant crystal cannon, which is aimed towards the ocean as it emerges from a secret hatch in the floor. When the huge crystal catches a sunbeam, it begins to radiate a brilliant glow and a familiar hum builds to a fever-pitch. Suddenly, a huge bolt of energy is fired from the crystal and an outcropping of rocks in the distance explodes. Hercules realizes instantly that it was this cannon which caused his shipwreck.
Thrown into an underground electrified torture chamber, Hercules soon manages to short-circuit the system, blowing a hole in the wall. He escapes through an adjacent tunnel as Panthius works to quell the rising fears of his subjects by creating, then exposing, a dazzling optical illusion in the town square. Meanwhile, Hercules has made his way through the tunnels to a cavern where slaves, whipped by merciless overseers, are mining for crystals. Rushing to their aid, he overpowers the slavedrivers and is reunited with Demitrius, who has been toiling underground since his ship was destroyed. He learns that all the slaves are captured sailors and finally realizes why Atlantis is doomed -- the very foundation of the island has been undermined by the crystal mine tunnels which extend underground in all directions. As Demitrius and the men escape the mine and swim out to a ship off shore, Hercules dodges the deadly fire of the patrol gliders. Cassandra, who has been tortured by Panthius and his men, is in dire straits when Hercules arrives and attacks her tormentors. Just as the king threatens to take her life, a giant earthquake hits and the entire city begins to crumble. In the ensuing pandemonium, Demitrius and his men are forced to set sail without Hercules. Panthius is crushed under his crystal cannon, but Hercules and Cassandra are able to make a spectacular escape from the palace roof in a glider, landing safely out at sea on the deck of Demetrius' ship.
Starring: Kevin Sorbo (Hercules)
Guest Starring: Claudia Black (Cassandra), James Beaumont (Panthius), William Davis (Skirner), Ross Harper (Demitrius), Norman Fairley (Aurelius), Jason Greenwood (Citizen), Edd Bennetto (Citizen #1), David Goodwin (Citizen #2), Grahame Moore (Street Vendor), Geoffrey Knight (Slave Driver), Campbell Rousselle (First Mate)
Written by Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci
Directed by Gus Trikonis