Not so very Happy Ending

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

http://johnkennethmuir.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/saturday-with-sinbad-jason-and-the-argonauts-1963/

• Prophet asks Zeus to communicate to him through the ashes.  “There is a tree that beholds the Golden Fleece” aristos child will keep Pelias away from the throne.
• Daughter comes to Hera’s temple and Pelias kills her.
• Hera wants to help Jason overthrow Pelias.
• Pelias nearly drowns and Jason saves him.  Pelias “owes him his life” and invites him to his camp.  Pelias sends Jason to find the Golden Fleece.
• The older man is actually Hermes.  He brings Jason to Mt. Olympus as a miniature form.
• Hera says to look into the land of Colchis.  Jason refuses help from the gods and only wants mortal help.
• Jason holds trials for men to compete for spots on the boat.  Hercules comes to join.
• A figure of Hera looks over the boat.  She communicates to Jason through this figure.
• Going to an island to get food and water.  It’s looked over by Talos.
• Hercules takes a piece from the gods.  The statue of Talos begins to move and go after the men.  Talos destroys their boat.  Jason finds a notch on the back of Talos’ ankles, opens it up, and destroys Talos.
• Now Jason and his men are on the search for the blind man because he can lead them the rest of the way.
• They free the blind man of his torment from the harpies.  He tells them they must pass the clashing rocks.
• Poseidon rises from the water just as Jason was about to give up on the gods, and helps them pass through the clashing rocks.
• A woman is found drifting in the water.  Her name is Medea.
• Jason and Acastas have a sword fight over a disagreement over fighting in the dark.  Jason is the victor.
• Jason and his men end up in Colchis. 
• Jason is sent to jail because of his journey to take Colchis’ Golden Fleece.  Medea comes to tell Jason that he should forget about the fleece and that she must come with him.  She then confesses her love for him.  She, Jason, and his men escape the prison.
• Jason finds the Golden Fleece and encounters the hydra.  He kills it and Acastas lies on the ground injured.
• As they are escaping, Medea is shot in the back with an arrow.  Jason lays the fleece over her body to heal her.
• The king of Colchis throws the hydra’s teeth and summons the dead to fight Jason and his men.
• Hera “defeats” Zeus in their game. 

Jason

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jasão_e_o_Velo_de_ouro_-_Bertel_Thorvaldsen_-_1803.jpg

• Pelias is Jason’s father’s half-brother.
• Pelias overthrew Aeson and killed all of his descendants.  He didn’t kill Jason because the women pretended Jason had died during childbirth.
• An oracle warned him of a man with one sandal would overthrow him.
• Jason lost a sandal helping an old woman cross the river (who was actually Hera).
• Jason accepted the quest given by Pelias if he wanted to take the thrown.
• During their quest, they end up at the Isle of Lemnos.  The island is a race of women who murdered their husbands.  The goddess Aphrodite punished the women due to their lack of worship.  When Jason and the Argonauts arrived, they mingled with the women and created a new race.  Jason had twins with the Hypsipyle (the queen).
• King Cyzicus of the Doliones pointed the men towards Bear Mountain, but forgot to mention that there were giants.  The men had to fight them away from the ship and sailed away.
• Jason seeks out Phineus (the blind man from the movie).  Same Harpies, same problem. 
• Jason released a dove through the clashing rocks.  If it made it, they would make it and vice versa.  The dove ended up making it through.
• The king of Colchis promised the fleece to Jason as long as he completes three tasks.  He became discouraged, and with a little bit of convincing on Hera’s part, the kings daughter Medea falls in love with Jason.
• First task is to defeat the fire-breathing oxen.
• Second task is to sow the teeth of a dragon into a field and defeat the warriors that sprout from it.
• The third task is to defeat the sleeping dragon that’s guarding the Golden Fleece.
• Jason and Medea flee together and escape.
• Jason gets engaged to Creusa, who was the daughter of the King of Corinth.  This upset Medea, and she confronted him about this and he kind of threw it back in her face.
• Since he broke the vow of being with Medea forever, she had Creusa wear a poisoned dress that burned her to death.
• Also, since he broke the vow to love her forever, his favor with Hera was lost forever.  He died alone and unhappy.  Can’t always get what you want!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason

A Stretch from the Truth..

Immortals (2011)

http://comicsalliance.com/immortals-is-an-epic-adventure-in-getting-it-wrong/

• There was war between the immortals up in the Heavens.  The victors became gods, and the unfortunate side to those who lost, became Titans and imprisoned.
• During the war, the Epirus Bow was lost on Earth.
• King Hyperion (mortal) is in search of the bow so he can release the Titans to get back at the gods for not saving his family.
• He captures the oracle Phaedra, because he believes she’ll find the bow.
• Theseus and his mother are forced to stay behind in their small village while Hyperion’s army attacks it.  Theseus and his mother are considered undesirable because his mother Aethra was raped.
• Theseus’ mentor, or the “old man”, is actually Zeus.
• Theseus has to bury his mother.
• He finds the Epirus Bow in a nearby rock.  He then frees it and uses it to defeat the Minotaur.
• Phaedra takes care of Theseus and ends up falling in love with him.
• He leads the army to war against Hyperion’s forces.
• The gods come down to fight the freed Titans.
• Every god but Zeus and Poseidon are killed.
• Theseus kills Hyperion.
• He’s wounded and gets transported to Mt. Olympus because of his sacrifice and is placed amongst the gods.
• He becomes a legend and his son with Phaedra (Acamas) gets a vision of gods fighting the Titans. His father, Theseus, is among them.

Theseus

http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=theseus-legendary-hero-athens

• Son of Aegeus and Poseidon.  Aethra had slept with the both of them in one night.
• Aegeus was one of the kings of Athens.  On his wedding night with Aethra, she swam to a small island where she met Poseidon.
• This mix gave Theseus a combination of mortal and immortal traits.
• Aegeus left but placed his sandals and sword under a rock.  He said he should remove the rock when he grows up and if he’s heroic enough.
• To get back to his father, he could either take the safe route (the sea), or the dangerous one (by land), where he would encounter the six entrances to the underworld.  He chose the to travel by land.
• There are a few versions of Theseus and the Minotaur.  Mostly there were sacrifices every so many years made to the Minotaur.  Theseus volunteers to kill the Minotaur to end the madness.
• Theseus takes place of one of the volunteers.  When he arrives at Crete, Ariadne (King Mino’s daughter) falls in love with him.  She then helps aid him in fighting the Minotaur.  She gives him a ball of string to find his way through the Labyrinth.
• Theseus overpowers the Minotaur and kills it.
• Escapes with all of the young volunteers, Ariadne, and her younger sister Phaedra.
• Theseus was told to leave Ariadne and her sister, and while he was so distressed he forgot to change the sails on his boat to white (as promised to his father).  The king ended up killing himself.
• Dionysus saw how upset Ariadne was, pitied her, and married her.
• Theseus married Phaedra and had two sons, Demophon and Acamas.  During their infancy, she fell in love with Theseus’ other son, Hippolytus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theseus

Once was a Slave, Now Turned into a Heroic Leader

Spartacus (1960)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spartacus_sheetA.jpg

• Beginning scene with Spartacus starts off with him in a desert-like scene, and even though he’s a slave, he fights back an official.
• Sent to a school that trains men as gladiators.
• His trainer was instructed to break his spirits.
• Falls for a woman named Varinia.  She was the woman who was sent to his cell to entertain him, and he didn’t take advantage of her.
• Varinia is bought by Crassus
• Crassus has Spartacus and a few others fight for his and his people’s entertainment.
• Spartacus’ opponent spares his life and attacks the audience instead.  Draba is killed by one of the guards and Crassus.
• Varnina is taken away to Crassus’ home.  Marcellus teases Spartacus about this, and their fight turns into a riot.  Spartacus and the other gladiators overrun the guards and make their escape.
• Spartacus becomes their leader.
• More slaves join their group to the point that it is basically an army.
• Varnina escapes from being delivered to Crassus.  She then becomes Spartacus’ wife informally and becomes pregnant with his child.
• In a panic, Crassus is given full power, because of the fear of Spartacus’ army of men.
• Crassus’ army nearly wipes out Spartacus’ men.
• Crassus’ men try to find the “rebel” leader (Spartacus) so he would get the worst punishment.  Instead, the remaining men all stood up and said “I am Spartacus!”  Crassus sentenced them all to death by crucifiction.
• Crassus finds Varinia and Spartacus’ newborn son and takes them as prisoners.
• He then finds Spartacus and forces him to fight Antoninus to the death.  Whoever the survivor is, will be crucified.  Spartacus wins, and is sent to be crucified.
• Varinia and her son are rescued and find Spartacus on the cross.
• She shows him his son and tells him he was born free and will never have to be a slave.

  Honestly, this movie was very difficult to watch due to the acting of that time period.  Everything was very theatrical and very slow moving.

Spartacus

http://www.histoire-fr.com/rome_republique_4.htm

• Little is known about Spartacus outside of the war.
• Thracian by birth, once a Roman soldier, and had been a prisoner and sold for a Gladiator.
• Had trained at a gladiator school near Capua.  This belonged to Lentulus Batiatus.  A group of gladiators and Spartacus plotted an escape.
• Their plot didn’t work but a large group of men ended up fighting their way out of school.  They took as much of the equipment as possible.
• The slaves that escaped recruited more slaves and increased the amount of men in their ranks.
• Spartacus and two other slaves were chosen to be their leaders.
• Spartacus was proving to be an excellent leader and their army of men continuously defeated each of their expeditions.
• Crassus was charged by the Senate to end the rebellion.
• Crassus was on Spartacus’ tail and cut off as many ties Spartacus had.  Crassus had refused a deal with Spartacus, and a portion of Spartacus’ men fled.
• It was claimed that Spartacus died during battle, but it was also said his body was never found.
• The survivors of the revolt were crucified and lined the Appian Way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartacus