Helen of Troy

[Meatros]

I did a quick check and it seems I'm the first to bring this up. Did anyone else see part 1? It was on USA last night and part 2 will be on tonight.

I saw it and I thought it was pretty good. Granted I don't know how accurate it is, or how accurate it could be in light of the history it covers.

There were several things that I thought were interesting. One was the nudity. This movie was on USA at 8pm, which is basic cable, and throughout it there were several times when you could see Helen's nipples through her outfit, and there were also several times when she was completely naked and the audience saw her ass for several minutes. Neither of these things really bothered me, as I'm all for cursing/nudity to be allowed on television, but it did make me think-are we really going toward a new age of television standards?

Another thing, which actually did bother me, was Achilles. The actor who plays him seems to be a bit of a dufus, IMO. Maybe it's just me but Achilles seems somehow not too intelligent.

All in all, I thought the movie was good, what did you all think?

[Cisco]

What are the chances of them releasing this on DVD? I really want to see it but I can never seem to sit through a movie with commercials in it. It totally spoils it for me.

[Meatros]

I agree, DVD would be better and if I'll probably pick it up if it goes to DVD.

[Joey P]

Originally posted by Cisco
What are the chances of them releasing this on DVD? I really want to see it but I can never seem to sit through a movie with commercials in it. It totally spoils it for me.

Can I recommend a TiVo. My TiVo, (I think) is planning to record Helen Of Troy tonight. It would have done it last night, but it would have overlapped with FAMILY GUY. (I'm so glad they put that back on, now if they would only make new episodes).

[annieclaus]

I expected HELEN OF TROY to be really cheesy, so imagine my surprise when it was nothing of the kind! I really enjoyed Part 1 and am looking forward to tonight's conclusion.

I had never studied the ILLIAD or ODYSSEY when I was in school and I am too undisciplined to crunch into them myself. So I am enjoying getting all the ducks in a row, so to speak. Agamemnon is a bit of a prick, no? But I really felt sorry for him when he had to sacrifice the adorable Iphegenia to get the winds to blow.

What I don't understand, and what my history major son couldn't explain to me, is why Helen is called HELEN OF TROY when she was really HELEN OF SPARTA. Anybody know? (And I don't really think the chick who is playing Helen is all that gorgeous, certainly not in the Catherine Zeta-Jones school of gorgeosity!)

[Meatros]

I always thought it was because she fell in love with Paris who was a 'Troy', or am I wrong? I have to admit I got a little confused between the two sides...

[pcarney]

USA Networks is always a sucker for the costume drama, eh? I flipped onto this last night, and ended up watching most of it. Not bad. Bad acting (with exceptions), I could choreograph better fight scenes, but it was still alright. And you gotta love them see through outfits!!

Is it me or is Rufus Sewell really damn creepy?

[Profane]

I thought it was a stinker, couldn't finish watching it. Those fight scenes were horrible.

[Stellablue]

Maybe it is OK if you never read the original story. But I think not. The story of the Trojan war and the people involved has been a fovorite for thousands of years because it was and IS a great story. This is not it!
I will mention only a few of the problems with having a screenwriter redo Homer. First of all the Gods are not here. We had only 10 seconds of the 3 Goddeses as they appeared to Paris. In the story the Gods were involved all the time making appereances to support one side or the other and to change the course of the action. The Gods were just as important characters as the humans.
Agememnon did not kill his daughter to get correct winds. The Goddess Artemis carried Iphingenia away at the last moment.
Theseus was not killed by the brother of Helen. And where was his twin?
Paris did not fight his brother Hector.
Cassandra did not have the power of insight into the future as a child. And no one ever belived her.
That is just for starters.
This is a very poor version of the story IMHO

[vibrotronica]

[obligitory Simpson's reference]
Troy McClure:
Not just the McBain movie, but maybe my own fragrance: Smellin' of Troy!
[/obligitoy Simpson's reference]

[Meatros]

Dang Stellablue , now that you put the inaccuracies into perspective, I'm not too sure about this one. I mean, as far as films go I guess it's still okay, but I was expecting a little more accuracy. I've never read the illiad, so I didn't have anything to guage it on.

I do appreciate your analysis, do you (or anyone else) have any others?

[SuperNova]

Stellablue mentioned that Paris never fought Hector. But an additional problem is that if Paris ever had fought Hector, he would have lost horribly.

The whole presentation of Paris bugged me a whole lot more than minor changes to the storyline. Paris is not a hero. He's not a great fighter. He's a pretty boy. He never wants to fight in the Iliad. He wants to have sex with Helen. And when he does fight he's a fairly ineffective warrior. He's a WIMP. And USA is here trying to make him look like a hero.... bleh.

[Dewey Cheatem Undhow]

Can someone please fill in some gaps for me? I was on the couch, very tired, and was dozing off intermittently througout the program, so there are a bunch of holes of around five minutes length in my memory, plus I'm fuzzy on the sequence of events...

SPOILER:

1. What was the deal with the cow? I got that Paris was fighting in a tournament, and that a stolen cow had something to do with why he was there. What gives?

2. There was a scene where Helen (I think) was making cow eyes at a guy in a barn, and as she left another guy with some soldiers came in and killed the barn dude -- but not until barn dude exacted some damage of his own. Could someone please set up this scene for me? Who's who? Why are they pissed at barn guy? What gives? I thought maybe it was Paris who went in with the soldiers, but then later it appears that Paris meets Helen for the first time when he sees her nekkid at the dinner (mmm....nekkid Helen....).

3. I am basically very confused about everything that happens after Paris is revealed to be nobility but before Helen's nekkid stroll, as this was the period I was most woozy. Nothing like a nekkid bottom to wake you up. Can someone give a brief sequence of events? I got that the leaders all were banding together, and did the ring-toss thing to see who would be the ultimate leader (and Helen's hubby), but I'm not even sure about that. I was pretty groggy at the time.

OK, in retrospect, that's a lot of gaps. Can someone just do a brief plot summary?

[KidCharlemagne]

I just can't get over how breathtakingly beautiful Sienna Guillfory )sp) is. Id launch 1000 ships too. Anyone see the cover of NYT Television section? Sure wish women still wore tunics.

[FairyDust]

SPOILER:

It was a bull, not a cow that was stolen by the man working for the king (the king being Paris's biological father). The bull belonged to Paris, so naturally he wanted to get it back after it was stolen from him.

The guy in the barn with Helen was a king (don't remember what he was king of) who won Helen after some guys kidnapped her from the hallway after she momentarily left her sister's wedding feast. He had told her the truth of her mother's death - that she had committed suicide after giving birth to Helen - and that her mother had been raped by Zeus (Helen's biological father) which explained Helen's beauty that no man could resist. The guy in the barn had told Helen she would become his wife, but that she was too young, even though she felt ready to do it.

It was Helen's brother, not Paris who found her outside the barn, and it was Helen's brother and his men who fought the guy in the barn.

[msmith537]

So..many...condom jokes..


At least it's better than the two Dune miniseries.

[dil]

SPOILER:

Paris did meet Helen for the first time at the dinner, but he also saw her in a vision in the beginning. The goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena appeared to him and told him to choose which of them was the fairest. They all promised him gifts if he picked them. He picked Aphrodite, because her gift was the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. Helen also saw Paris in a pool at the same time.

Also, the ring-toss thing was not to determine who was the leader, it was only to determine who would marry Helen and then the rest of the kings pledged to defend that man's sole right to Helen. Agamemnon was going to be the high king no matter what. Agamemnon's younger brother Menalaus won the ring-toss.

I think the changes that USA is making are to give the story more of a hero-villain feel. In the Iliad, every character has their problems, so there's really no one to root for. It's not even clear who should win the war, the Greeks or the Trojans. USA has changed the character of Paris to make him into the hero and it has definitely made the Greeks look like the bad guys. I remember when I read the Iliad I was rooting for the Greeks because Achilles was such a bad-ass and Paris was such a pansy.

[DrDeth]

The first King who kidnapped Helen was Theseus, of Athens- according to the movie.

Well, actually- it's Achilles who is the pansy- "not that there's anything wrong with that".

But here is my point- we have a 4 hour miniseries- about the big huge ten year war- and here we are, after 2 hours- and we aren't quite at the war yet.

annie- she is called "Helen of Troy" as she was kidnapped by the Prince of Troy, who made her his wife. She wasn't born there. But I agree- the actress, while not a dog by any means- is hardly "the face who launched a 1000 ships".

[Orual]

Originally posted by DrDeth
The first King who kidnapped Helen was Theseus, of Athens- according to the movie.

This has support in ancient mythology. There is a story that Theseus kidnapped Helen when she was younger, and her brothers had to get her back.

Originally posted by Stellablue
Agememnon did not kill his daughter to get correct winds. The Goddess Artemis carried Iphingenia away at the last moment.

Well, that depends. According to some stories he did (according to Homer and Aeschylus) according to others she was replaced by a deer and whisked away to Tauris (according to Euripedes and others). In either case, Agamemnon and the others believed that Iphigenia had been sacrificed. Which was one of the reasons his wife Clytemnestra killed him when he came home from the war.

[MaddyStrut]

I saw parts of it. I have to agree with those disappointed in the Achilles character. I never pictured him being a dumb off who looked like the Mr. Clean guy.

[MaddyStrut]

er... dumb OAF not OFF.

[Stellablue]

I'd say the biggest difference between classic story and movie is the absence of the Godsand how mortals view the gods. The Greek epic is a story of the powers of the Gods and the effect these uncontrolable powers have on mankind. Divine beings are prone to take sides, to jealous fits, sulking and ragging lust. Hey just like our heros! All of the heros had wonderful qualities that we admire and want to emulate but also they had flaws. Some were very presice, like Achilles heel. Others had flaws of character, like vanity. All had to strive against the forces of the Gods.
This story is in large part responsible for the form our western stories and dramas have taken. This movie is a disservice to that heritage. But what do I expect. Hollywood has messed up so many good books. Even the Scarlet Letter had a happy ending in the movies.

[Foolonthehill]

Boy this was bad on so many levels.

The Judgement of Paris in 5 minutes in a cave. No Apple of Dis, no recommendation of Paris by Zeus.

Cassandra had no gift of prophecy until she was a teenager, a gift of seduction by Apollo, who when rejected by Cassandra, adds the qualifier; "No one will believe you."

When Agamemnon sacrifices Iphigenia, she is a teenager and the King tells her and her mother that he has arranged a marriage for her. Agamemnon cannot kill her himself, but gives her to the guards at the alter to kill. (Euripides in the 5th cent. has her rescued by Artemis, but in Homer she is sacrificed).

Pollux did not kill Theseus. (Apollodorus in the 1st cent. has Theseus kidnap Helen as a warm up act, for going to Hades and trying to steal Persephone. In that Version Pollux and Castor, his twin, storm Theseus' castle and rescue the young Helen, but Theseus is not there. Homer never mentions this at all).

Paris was an effete little bugger, who was brought to Menelaus' court by Aphrodite, and welcomed hospitably.

Priam knew that Paris would be trouble, and so he kept him out of the city, but never did he try to kill his own son.

It was Helen's father, Tyndareus, who forced the other Greek chieftains into an alliance. He knew that regardless of who married Helen, the other chieftains would be angry andunite against them. He made them swear an oath to defend each other before he picked the groom of Helen.

And that's in the 1st hour.
Bad

[Meatros]

Incidentally, was The Illiad a poem? Or was it written in the same style as the Odyssey

[Orual]

Umm... the Odyssey is a poem, as is the Iliad.

[Meatros]

Hmmm...well it has been quite a while....

[moi]

Best thing I can say about it is that I'm more interested to reread The Odyssey and The Illiad now.

I, too, was a bit surprised by the nudity. On the other hand, I knew better than to expect a face to launch 1,000 ships out of the lead actress; this is still a cable mini-series, afterall. I definitely missed the role of the gods in this version and got a headache from the pseudo-Gladiator-style battle scenes.

[JRDelirious]

Well... the good thing here is that it leaves the door open for, a few years from now, a sequence of miniseries' titled "Homer's Iliad", "Homer's Oddyssey", "Aeschylus' Oresteiad", etc., that will be a wee bit closer. (BTW, Iphigenia dies in this scenario, too)

The way I see it, this is not really an attempt to stage Homer, or even actual mythology, but rather [i]The Decline and Fall of Mykenaean Greece (Sex and Violence Mega-Mix)[i]. It's not bad. They could have done a lot worse. Also, to be honest: they are badly hobbled to begin with. Knowing much of their audience probably got their Greek mythology from Xena reruns and vaguely remembers from High School history that the Greeks were up to something way back -- i.e. they can't tell Mykenae from Mylanta and Apollo is a character in the Rocky movies, named after a space rocket of some sort -- they try to cover a lot of ground to get you to why the heck is anybody bothering to besiege Troy and why should we care, while leaving enough time for people getting naked.

That can also explain the exclusion of the gods -- at the production-meetings level: too little time has passed since Xena, which on top of the heritage of 50+ years of bad Hercules movies and Herryhausen SFX flicks, has absolutely ruined the Greek gods as worthwhile characters for most of the audience.

[Protesilaus]

Did anyone else find it weird that after the ten years past, they didn't even try to make the characters look older?

[Jurhael]

Well, it was much better than what I expected. I was also wondering about the historical/mythological accuracy. My mother(who is Greek, but forgot history/myths) complained that the Greeks and Trojans looked like the Romans and it wasn't supposed to be that way.

[Kallessa]

I got the feeling from the prologue that this is set up to be the "true" story of the Trojan War--as opposed to the mythological version most people know. For instance, it is fairly obvious that Agamennon is going to go to war with Troy (over riches) one way or another, the "abduction" of his brother's wife is just a good excuse. The Gods aren't players because, in the real world of men, the Gods don't make an appearence until the victor want to legitimatize his actions.
Think of Virgil writing The Aenead to give Rome a heroic (and Godly) history--this mini-series is the opposite of that process.

Of course, reducing the story to one of man's greed and lust only, as opposed to the greed and lust and jeolousy bwtween the Gods, makes the story both less coherent and less powerful, but that's life on USA Network--weak and incoherent.

[Meatros]

Originally posted by Protesilaus
Did anyone else find it weird that after the ten years past, they didn't even try to make the characters look older?

I actually found it wierd just how quickly and without much mention ten years passed.

It was like 'oh, it's been ten years, let's challenge them now'.

[annieclaus]

I found Part the Second to be far inferior to Part the First. The war was staged in Reader's Digest version, for sure. I, too, thought the armies looked very Roman, but then the Romans copied everything the Greeks did, no? So maybe what we know of the Roman look was really just their version of the Greek look.

It bothered me that those Trojan archers were so accurate in mowing down the Greek troops as they were sloshing through the sea. They were how far away???

The Horse was impressive, however.

There was one shot of Helen where she looked really, really cross-eyed and I thought "this face couldn't even launch a canoe."

Did anyone else get the idea that Clytemnestra travelled to Troy to make mincemeat out of Agamemnon? I thought he had made it back to Mycenae before she did him in.

And, yes, it bothered me that nobody except Priam and Mrs. Priam seemed to age during the 10 boring years of the war.

On the whole, I'd give the series about a C+ but I'm glad I watched itl.

[msmith537]

Originally posted by annieclaus
There was one shot of Helen where she looked really, really cross-eyed and I thought "this face couldn't even launch a canoe."
[/b]

[obligitory Simpson's reference]
This is the face that launched a thousand ships. The other way!
[/obligitory Simpson's reference]



And I still never got why the Trojans brought the stupid horse into the city. Granted the idea of a "Trojan horse" didn't exist before this, but the concept of hiding things in other things sure did!

[obligitory Simpson's reference]
"Hey do you guys have a wooden horse?"

"Well...I don't have one from you."
[/obligitory Simpson's reference]

[dil]

The second half was a mess. Someone remind me of what really happened in Homer's Iliad, because I can't remember the real story now.

SPOILER:

In USA's version, Paris and Menelaus fought a duel. Menelaus won because of a poison-tipped spear, but he didn't kill Paris. Then, Hector challenged Agamemnon to a duel. Achilles said he fights for Agamemnon and then told Hector he would duel him, but Hector could throw the first spear. Achilles then turned his back to Hector. (In Homer's Iliad, Achilles skin was like impenetrable armor and I was sooooo waiting for Hector's spear to bounce off Achilles's back, but nooooo) Hector refused to throw, Achilles turned around and speared Hector right through the gut.

Then Achilles dragged Hector's body around the Greek camp (this happened in Homer's Iliad too) and Helen went to Agamemnon to give herself up to try to end the war. Agamemnon refused and Helen had to run for her life. Paris then showed up at the Greek camp looking for Helen. He challenges Agamemnon to a duel, but once again, Achilles says he fights for Agamemnon and he charges Paris with his chariot. In a nifty maneuver, Paris dodges the chariot, grabs the Greek soldier's bow and an arrow, and then while laying on his back fires at Achilles, who has just raced by him. Achilles is struck in the heel and dies. (this makes no sense since he has never been established as having impenetrable skin everywhere else)

Then Paris and Helen meet up and flee the Greek camp together. Once they get through the frontline of Trojan soldiers they stop and embrace. Suddenly, Agamemnon appears in disguise and stabs Paris. Paris dies.

Now, who can tell me the differences between this account and Homer's? I remember certain things from Homer, like Athena fighting for the Greeks and Ares fighting for the Trojans, but I don't remember the specifics of the duels and how each character died. I do know, though, that Paris was not the one who killed Achilles, it was an archer and his secret vulnerable spot was revealed to the archer by a goddess, Aphrodite I think. I also am pretty sure Agamemnon killed Menelaus, but on USA, Menelaus survived.

[JRDelirious]

Originally posted by annieclaus
I, too, thought the armies looked very Roman, but then the Romans copied everything the Greeks did, no? So maybe what we know of the Roman look was really just their version of the Greek look.

Or some intermediary's inaccurate version of the Romans'version -- so filmmakers give us "Generic Ancient Mediterranean civilization" rather than Greek or Roman warfare, which is not uncommon in art. For many centuries, art and now mass media, has tended to create something of a mishmash of periods when depicting the distant past. And this is distant. These Greeks should be historically from around 1200BCE, some 700 years and on the other side of a "dark ages" from what we think of as Classical Greece, almost 600 years before there even was a town of Rome, 900 before Alexander, 1200 before the Caesars.

[KidCharlemagne]

Whatever you want to call it, the second part was so mindnumbingly boring I was ready to fall on my sword.

[Orual]

I'm unspoilering because the coding is messing me up. Fair warning.

Originally posted by dil
[b]The second half was a mess. Someone remind me of what really happened in Homer's Iliad, because I can't remember the real story now.

In USA's version, Paris and Menelaus fought a duel. Menelaus won because of a poison-tipped spear, but he didn't kill Paris. Then, Hector challenged Agamemnon to a duel. Achilles said he fights for Agamemnon and then told Hector he would duel him, but Hector could throw the first spear. Achilles then turned his back to Hector. (In Homer's Iliad, Achilles skin was like impenetrable armor and I was sooooo waiting for Hector's spear to bounce off Achilles's back, but nooooo) Hector refused to throw, Achilles turned around and speared Hector right through the gut.

Paris and Menelaus do duel, and it looks like Menelaus will win, but Aphrodite whisks Paris away to Helen's bedroom in the middle of it.

Hector and Achilles do fight (it's not exactly a duel though). Hector is reluctant to fight Achilles because he knows he will lose. Achilles wants to kill Hector because Hector killed his best friend/ lover Patroclus (I take it that this is not mentioned in the miniseries). Also, there is no mention in the Iliad of Achilles' invulnerability, only that he is the greatest fighter of the Greeks.
The invulnerability schtick was a later invention.

Then Achilles dragged Hector's body around the Greek camp (this happened in Homer's Iliad too) and Helen went to Agamemnon to give herself up to try to end the war. Agamemnon refused and Helen had to run for her life. Paris then showed up at the Greek camp looking for Helen. He challenges Agamemnon to a duel, but once again, Achilles says he fights for Agamemnon and he charges Paris with his chariot. In a nifty maneuver, Paris dodges the chariot, grabs the Greek soldier's bow and an arrow, and then while laying on his back fires at Achilles, who has just raced by him. Achilles is struck in the heel and dies. (this makes no sense since he has never been established as having impenetrable skin everywhere else)

Helen never goes to Agamemnon. Agamemnon doesn't want Helen for himself. Paris and Agamenon never duel. Paris (with help from Apollo) kills Achilles in battle at the gates of Troy. Achilles' death, adn the end of the war (i'.e. the Horse and everything) are not described in the Iliad which only goes up to Hector's burial.

Then Paris and Helen meet up and flee the Greek camp together. Once they get through the frontline of Trojan soldiers they stop and embrace. Suddenly, Agamemnon appears in disguise and stabs Paris. Paris dies.

Oh the pain. Paris is killed in the fighting (I don't remember by whom). Helen is then married to another of Priam's sons Deiphobus

I do know, though, that Paris was not the one who killed Achilles, it was an archer and his secret vulnerable spot was revealed to the archer by a goddess, Aphrodite I think. I also am pretty sure Agamemnon killed Menelaus, but on USA, Menelaus survived.

As I mentioned above, Paris did in fact kill Achilles (the only actual act df fighting he does, the pansy weenie), with help from Apollo. Agamemnon loved his brother and did not kill him. In fact, Menelaus and Helen show up in the Odyssey as a fairly happy couple, preparing for the marriage of their daughter (Hermione, I believe) to Achilles' son Neoptolemus.

I want to see this movie, so that I and my Classics major friends can laugh and laugh and laugh.

[Meatros]

You know what? It seems as though they tried to severly play down the role of the Gods in this movie; yet in the begining Paris sees the three Goddess...

[Meatros]

Originally posted by KidCharlemagne
Whatever you want to call it, the second part was so mindnumbingly boring I was ready to fall on my sword.

Ah, so your sword was out too? Mine only came out when Helen was in the pool with Paris...





Sorry...I....I...had to...

[Nichol_storm]

Is it just me, or does the guy playing Menelaus look a LOT like Kevin Sorbo? Anyone? And Rufus Sewell is scary as hell. I barely recognized him with the beard; he looks ten years older than he did in "A Knight's Tale".

Anyway, this miniseries was very definitely Helen's story (hence the title), while the big-budget movie "Troy" will probably be Achilles' story. Just about everyone got short-shrift except for Helen, Paris, Menelaus, and Agamemnon. Odysseus was in what, one scene? Hector was criminally under-used. Achilles was barely there, and certainly Patroclus didn't make an appearance (he does in "Troy", but I've yet to hear if they're having him and Achilles be lovers or just really, really good buddies). I was, however, pleased that they included Theseus' abduction of Helen, even if they did bungle his death.

Stellablue -- it depends on which version of the Iphigenia legend you've heard. The original did indeed have her killed. The latter Greeks were understandably wierded out by the human sacrifice, and came up with the nice "Artemis rescues her at the last minute" bit, which I always thought cheapened her death and the impact it had on the lives of her family.

There was an "Odysessy" mini a few years back I didn't care for, but this one wasn't bad. Like I said, this is Helen's story, so the macho Greeks are definitely the bad guys, and the focus is going to be on the love story. "Troy" is probably going to be more from the Greek point-of-view, and more action-oriented.

What I'd like to see: An "Orestiad" mini and maybe a "Oedipus Rex" would be cool. Has the Oedipus legend ever even been filmed? I can't think of any.

.:Nichol:.

[dil]

Wait... so where did the story about Achilles' invulnerability and getting shot in the heel come from, if not from the Iliad?

[KGS]

With all the obligatory Simpsons references, I can't believe no one's said:

"From now on, when people get wood, they'll think of Trojans!"

Come to think, it would have been hilarious if Trojan condoms was a sponsor of the show...

[Foolonthehill]

Nichol;
Donald Sutherland did an Oedipus Rex in the early '70's, ('74?), (ACT?), that was on public TV, not too bad. 70's production values are cruder than today's though.

[Evil Captor]

I liked the fact that the Gods were downplayed. It made the story less a matter of human chess pieces being manipulated by the Gods and coping as best they can, and more a matter of conflicting human emotions.

I also thought they did some good characterization. I like the fact that in Part II, Helen is filled with guilt and shame at the way men keep giving each other multiple stab wounds over her. It added a lot of depth to her character. I saw her going to Agamemnon as a suicidal act brought on by all that guilt. I also thought the way she bared her neck when whatsisname came in and drew his sword was hopeful rather than resigned. She wanted to be killed.

I also liked the scene where Agamemnon expressed his horror at having sacrificed his own daughter. It was evident that this was the real force driving the man to destroy Troy -- he had to have payback for having to kill her, more payback than Helen's presence, however lovely, could provide.

Finally, the actress who played Helen had a face that might not have launched a lot of ships, but her BUTT, now that could get a fleet dipping its oars into the water.

I liked the CGI horse and city with the artisans breaking up the interior walls to make room for it.

In short, it differed from the Iliad, but in a lot of respects, in a good way. Hey, the story's been around for a LONG time, cut 'em some slack.