Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at Go The Distance

Welcome back to Deep Dive Disney and another look at the Twisted Tales book series. For those just joining us, the Twisted Tales series is a series of What If stories that retell the events of Disney Movies with certain details changed, often resulting a much darker tale. Last time we covered one of these stories, we looked at As Old as Time, the Twisted Tale that retold Beauty & The Beast, which altered events in a way that drastically changed the eventual outcome of the story. Today’s offering, Go The Distance, the Twisted Tale based on one of my personal favorite Disney films, Hercules, does things a little bit differently. This time around, the eventz of the original film remain, for the most part, untouched. Instead, our book gives us a sequel of sorts to the original film and sets our heroes out on a whole new adventure. Though, sequel isn’t quite the right term here. I think it would be more accurate to call this an extended alternate ending. Allow me to explain. Our story starts where the original ended, with Hercules having retrieved Megara’s soul from the Underworld, having his Godhood restored and triumphantly returning to Mt. Olypmus. The big change comes when Hercules requests to remain on Earth with Meg. This time, Zeus suddenly decides to be an asshole like his proper Greek mythology counterpart and denies his son’s request, feeling that a mere mortal is beneath the God Hercules has become. Megara, not about to take this lying down, effectively tells Zeus to go fuck himself. Naturally, this doesn’t exactly help her case with the All Father of the Greek Pantheon, but it does manage to endear her to Zeus’s wife Hera. Hera can tell that Meg truly loves Hercules and him her, so she offers Meg a once in a lifetime opportunity to become a Goddess herself. However, such an incredible gift is not one given without a catch. As such, Meg must face a series of trials to prove herself worthy of divinity. Piece of cake, right? Wrong! With the help of Philoctetes and Pegasus, Meg’s trials will indeed prove incredibly taxing, not just physically, but also emotionally, especially when it turns out that her main task will be to retrieve a certain soul from the Underworld and return them to the land of the living. And not just any soul, the soul of the very woman her original lover, Aegeus, left her for. In essence, in order to earn her happily ever after, Meg must confront her own personal demons and face her worst fears. It’s an excellent story that places the spotlight firmly on one of my all time favorite Disney characters. Let’s dive into, Go the Distance.

Main Character:

If you read my article on the original 1997 Hercules film, then you’ll know that Megara is one of my favorite female characters in any piece of media, Disney or otherwise. I could not, and still cannot, praise the writing of this character enough. There is so much nuance in her actions, her motivations and even her inflections. She was portrayed as a character who had her happily ever after blow up in her face and had to learn how to open her heart again, something that she found incredibly difficult, but ultimately necessary in order for her to grow as a human being. In many ways, she was a much more interesting and engaging character than Hercules himself, so naturally, Meg sliding into the role of main protagonist feels like a natural move. After all, Hercules has already completed his journey, but Meg is a different story. While Meg, thanks to Hercules’s influence, was able to make tremendous steps forward in terms of her own personal growth, this book makes it clear that she still has a long way to go. Here, more of Meg’s backstory is revealed. Apparently, Meg’s father was a deadbeat jackass who refused to accept the responsibility necessary for providing for a family and walked out on her mother when Meg was only five. Because of this, her mother developed an inherent mistrust of men, often ending things with potential suitors before things got too serious, even if those suitors may have been good for her. Because of this, Meg’s mother, Thea, made sure from an early age that her daughter always relied on herself and never allow a man to get too close, something that would color Meg’s view of the world well into her adult years. Any time she deviated from this, it only lead to heartbreak and disaster. Take the case of her relationship with her first lover, Aegeus. Meg prayed to whatever God would listen to spare the life of a dying Aegeus, and where did this lead her? Enslaved to Hades while her love went off with another woman. Even with Hercules, who has proven time and time again that he’s the real deal and was even willing to give up the Godhood he’s been fighting for all his life for her and her alone, she still can’t seem to bring herself to fully accept. It’s not so much that she doesn’t trust him as much as she doesn’t trust the feeling he creates within her, because every time she allows herself to feel vulnerable, bad things tend to happen to her. Throughout her journey, Meg often finds herself questioning whether or not she should be with Hercules. After all, they haven’t been together all that long and now she’s going through a quest to spend eternity with him. Is Meg truly ready for that? Not to mention how, over the course of her journey, many aspects of her past that had defined her turn out to be very different when examined from another angle. After a while, it just feels like it’s too much and Meg just can’t deal. We also learn that there were aspects of Meg’s life that she abandoned because it reminded her of her past pain. She was once a great musician, so much so that even Athena herself took notice, but music only reminded her of the man who allegedly left her after she sacrificed everything, so she gave it up. Anything that made her feel vulnerable was eliminated from her life. This made her feel safe… but alone. However, along the course of her journey, Meg confronts both her past and her possible future and learns that while opening herself up to others carries a certain risk, allowing yourself to be vulnerable is an essential component to life. Perhaps it’s fitting then that, when all is said and done, Meg is named the Goddess of Vulnerability, visiting those who are too prideful to admit that they need help from others during their lowest point. A fitting role for this excellent character.

Villain:

I guess, by default, Hades is technically still the main villain in this story, though in a far lesser capacity than he was in the original film. It seems that after the events of the film, Hades has managed to crawl his way out of the River Styx and while Zeus probably won’t be inviting him to any more parties, it seems he’s gotten off more or less scot free for the whole Titan uprising thing. We also get some elaboration on the history between Meg and Hades. See, while Hades was planning his hostile takeover of Olypmus, he needed an agent to do his bidding on Earth who wouldn’t attract Zeus’s attention. When Meg just happened to be praying to whatever God would listen when her boyfriend fell ill, Hades pounced on the opportunity. Here’s where things get especially cruel. See, turns out Aegeus never actually left Meg for another woman, at least, not in the way you think. See, time passes differently in the underworld, a fact Hades neglected to tell Meg, so, where Meg saw Aegeus in the arms of another woman after only a few days, in reality, Aegeus spent two years searching for her and only moved on after he was sure she was dead. With Meg no longer pining for her old flame, Hades was free to use and manipulate her as he saw fit. Talk about sinister. However, Hades’s actions in this story are actually not nearly as bad as they were in the film. Here, Hades is ultimately just doing his job by trying to stop Meg from taking a soul out of the underworld. Not to mention, Hades kind of gets a happily ever after of his own. If you know your Greek Mythology, you’ll probably know that that means Persephone has entered the picture. I have to say, I love these two together. They have this slightly less toxic Joker and Harley thing going on and I am here for it. It’s Meg, with an assist from Hera, who negotiates a deal to allow Persephone to stay in the Underworld in exchange for letting her leave with Katarina. However, Hades isn’t about to make it easy for her as he states that if she looks back as she’s leaving the Underworld, she’s stuck there forever and even goes so far as to use her dead mom against her.

Side Characters:

We don’t actually see that much of Hercules himself in this story. He’s busy being a God and stuff. He’s still the same lovable wonder boy we all know and love and I appreciate that he stays devoted to Meg even after this one part where she’s questioning everything and she tells him off.

Several of the Gods aid Meg on her journey including Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, each showing up to give Meg advice and guidance in her time of need. I appreciate that each Goddess has a different approach to helping Meg. Athena takes a more no nonsense and aggressive approach while Aphrodite is more maternal and comforting.

Phil, despite not exactly being a member of Meg’s fan club, ends getting conscripted into her journey and over the course of the whole thing, the two form this surprisingly sweet friendship. We also get to see Phil’s softer side and we learn that he’s actually really good with little kids, having been the oldest of four brothers.

That brings us to Aegeus. Going to be honest, I have mixed feelings about the direction with which they took this character. Don’t get me wrong, I think the idea of Meg getting closure on her past is compelling storytelling, but I think this may have been stronger if Aegeus actually was the jerk Meg thought he was. I feel like making it so he truly loved Meg softens the blow of Meg finally moving past her own pain. How much more powerful would it have been if she confronted the jerk, put him in his place and realized that he no longer had power over her. I guess either way we end up at the same destination and what we ended up with still works so I suppose I can’t complain.

Memorable Scenes:

My favorite scene is a seemingly insignificant one, but still one that’s a ton of fun. Meg is sneaking around the underworld looking for Katarina. She’s doing everything she can to avoid attracting Hades’ attention. Meg gets in an elevator, only for Hades to be right in her face when she gets off at her floor with a big old “Hello Nutmeg!” A seemingly insignificant scene, but being the huge fan of Hades that I am, I’m happy to see him make a cool entrance in this story.

Story:

The message of Go The Distance is simple, but deeply important. It’s important to know that it is okay to show vulnerability, let other people in and help you. For the majority of Meg’s life, she never relied on anyone other than herself, and the few times she let someone else in, it often led to bad things. As Meg says in the movie, sometimes it’s better to be alone, no one can hurt you. Yes, opening yourself up to others and exposing your own vulnerabilities can be risky and it’s entirely possible you will end up getting hurt, but what’s the alternative? An empty life spent miserable and alone, no human connection. Maybe you won’t feel any pain, but that’s still no way to live. Through the influence of Hercules, Phil and all of her other friends, Meg learns this lesson, and as the Goddess of Vulnerability, she helps others do the same. Call me crazy, but I actually think that this is a better ending than the one we got in the movie. It gives one of my favorite characters ever a new sense of purpose and a new lease of life.

The Dark Disney Factor:

Unlike our last look at one of the Twisted Tales series, this book doesn’t indulge in the free license to be much darker than its film counterpart. Not to worry, our next look at the twisted tales series is based on Alice in Wonderland, so there will be plenty of Darkness to go around. As for this story, well, one of Meg’s earliest obstacles on her journey is a monster called an Empusa, a sort of succubus like demon with hair made of fire. Initially it takes the form of a beautiful woman, a ruse to lure in potential meals, but once it takes its true form, it’s a nightmare and even though Meg manages to take it down, the battle very nearly costs her her very life.

Final Thoughts: This book is amazing and has my stamp of approval all over it. It gives us an absolutely excellent and very powerful look at one of my favorite characters in the entirety of the Disney canon and getting to learn more about Meg was an absolute treat. I would totally be cool with it if they decided to make this sucker canon, but that's just me. If anything I've said above has convinced you, I highly recommend giving this one a read. As for next time, it looks like I'm finally taking a look at, Encanto!