How Science Fiction Failed Us Goes to the Movies – Clash of the Titans (2010)

April 13, 2010 - By Phineas Delgado

On April 2, 2010, Warner Brothers released its 2010 version of the Sci-Fi classic, Clash of the Titans. Starring such notables as Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, the movie has already earned a reported $80 million and counting. Staying close to the original 1981 version, the movie centers around the perilous journey of the mortal son of the god Zeus, who undertakes the task of stopping underworld minions from infiltrating and overrunning Earth and the heavens.

Now before we go any further, I know that Clash of the Titans isn’t technically Science Fiction. It’s fantasy, but I would argue that fantasy is the science fiction of a bygone era. With that in mind, after seeing the remake of the 1981 cult classic, I tapped into my geek roots to set right a 30-year-old wrong. There will be spoilers in this article, but let’s face it, if you don’t know the story by now, you aren’t reading this article anyway. Here we go, in no particular order.

1. Perseus was NOT the son of King Acrisius’ wife, but of his daughter, Danae. And Zeus did not disguise himself as a human, but as a shower of gold.
2. King Acrisius was not killed by a lightning strike (or by having his clay likeness crushed by Zeus, a la 1981). He met his fate late in life when he was struck by an errant discus thrown by Perseus.
3. At no time was Argos, or any other city for that matter (it was Joppa in 1981), ever threatened with destruction. Perseus went on his quest not to save a city, or Andromeda, but rather at the request of Polydectes, King of Seriphus.
4. Io was not a mortal cursed with agelessness. She was an important part of Greek mythology. She is the origin of the Ionian region of Greece, was mother to Epaphus (Geek cred to anyone who thinks that sounds familiar), the founder of Memphis, and an ancestor to Heracles. She had nothing at all to do with Perseus.
5. Hades, while disliked by most Greeks and even, so it’s told, by the Gods, bore little ill will for his brothers.
6. Prometheus created men in Greek Mythology, not Zeus.
7. Perseus did not hate the gods, and did not refuse their aid when offered. In fact, the Graeae (who, by the way were Medusa’s sisters) told him how to get the items he used in his quest, which he got from the gods.
8. Pegasus did not exist prior to the death of Medusa. He sprung, rather, fully grown from her neck. Medusa was pregnant with Poseidon’s child when Athena cursed her.
9. The gifts given to Perseus were the Helm of Hades, the Winged Sandals of Hermes and a satchel to hold the head. No mirrored shield and no special sword (and no stinking mechanical owl)
10. Andromeda’s beauty was compared to that of the Nereid’s by Cassiopeia, not specifically Thetis (as in 1981, though Thetis is a Nereid) or any other goddess.
11. Calibos does not exist in Greek Mythology. Thetis’ only son was Achilles.
12. There is no beast called “The Kraken” in Greek Mythology. Kraken is a Norse word. The monster to which Andromeda was to be sacrificed was called Cetus.

Why do we allow Hollywood to take an already great story and mix it up? Would we allow someone, years from now to mash together Star Trek and Star Wars? Would we like it if Captain James Skywalker, Han McCoy and Chewspocka blew up the Death Star with a well-placed photon torpedo? Not likely. Or how about if they took a very minor character and made them much more important, say like Wedge Antilles… Oh wait that really happened. Bad example, but you catch my drift.

This is the Mythology geek version of that. In this case, we took a really epic story and made it less epic because Hollywood either can’t read, doesn’t read, or thinks history and mythology (read historical religion) don’t matter. I will admit that it looked excellent, and the imagery would have made Heroditus weep, but damn it all. I wish they even pretended to try to be accurate. I really wish they would get a Kraken released on their collective sorry asses…

I said it… Did you?