Before we ever got together they sent out a sheet with some question on it that I answered at considerable length in writing. They had a pretty good idea what they wanted to ask. It’s VERY clear to me that they read my book and paid close attention, so presumably they wanted to steer things that way. But as I say above, they emphasized the Athena-turns-Medusa-into-a-monster legend, which i downplay ass a more recent innovation, but which is in many ways more dramatic. So they weren’t slavishly following me.
Damned if I know. I think they were looking for a dramatic and unique look, so everyone gets blackened eyes and odd face paint. And the Gods get weird contact lenses.
Cal, I want to commend you. I was actually able to get my kids to watch. They were very impressed with the mythology and asked a lot of questions. This dad heartily endorses your work.
He is a fun read … sort of like how the good crappy horror movies are so funny because they are played straight, rather than outright parodies [not that those are bad … but there is something engaging about a movie that is serious and cheesy]
Phaethon … maybe not a meteorite, but how about volcanic action? A really bright light over a horizon, followed by ash cloud and a day or so of really dark because of the cloud? If it happened early enough, oral entertainment being oral entertainment, the story spreads because it is a good story, and the gods were originally namechanged to fit the village gods, but then they were just changed to be uniform later sort of like the Illiad and Oddessy, or any other myth?
I dont think people looking for sources for myths are automatically fringe, it is more a case of how they may have interpreted something like a common subject like a ley line from a surveyors convenience into serious woo bullcrap. Interpreting celestial events into god myths makes sense.
ooo definitely get the audio versions … I love the way the oral cultures used certain repetitive phrases in the epics … wine dark sea so resonates with me from when I lived in a beach house … and sat on the beach late at night.
Interesting framing they used on you in the Medusa episode, Cal. I’m not really sure what they were going for. (Nothing against you or the series; just something that jumped out at me.)
I’m enjoying the series. It points out how little I know about mythology. I’m impressed.
I’ve been looking, but they don’t have much up. I gather nothing is showing this coming weekend on account of the holiday. The following Monday they’re showing the first part of Odysseus, but they don’t list anything beyond that.
If the previous episodes are any indication, they’ll be running Medusa several more times, and they’ll probably do a marathon of already-run episodes. Eventually it’ll probably show up in parts on the History website. But it’s not up yet.
When I try playing it here, it says it’s “unavailable”, but that may be my system blocking it. If they have it up on the screen, it ought to be available soon.
I wouldn’t call it off-putting. I’m guessing that the make-up makes the characters more visually interesting than they would be without it. Anyway, they’re gods. Are YOU going to mention it to them?
Unless the ancient Greeks really used such make-up, or their myths describe the gods looking so? As I mentioned, what I don’t know about mythology would – actually does – fill volumes!
