# Clash of the Titans **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2009, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338 "2009-12-15T09:16:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/1 "2009-12-15T09:16:26Z")
[Droooooool](http://clash-of-the-titans.warnerbros.com/) I’m sold. Greek mythology hasn’t gotten nearly enough movie time. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/2 "2009-12-15T09:20:49Z")
I loved the original, except for the stupid mechanical owl. At a first glance this does look pretty good. Hopefully Andromeda will be as fit as in the original. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/3 "2009-12-15T09:27:19Z")
I didn’t like the original. I don’t think that matters, though, as this is so different there will be no comparison. I don’t know if I can pin down why, but I don’t trust this trailer. It seems to be throwing a little bit too much out there, and I fear it will be all action and no story. Whereas I like the trailer for, the not dissimilar, _Prince of Persia_. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/4 "2009-12-15T14:12:11Z")
Looks like just my kinda movie! Can’t wait! ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/5 "2009-12-16T22:33:10Z")
I always get the original 80s film mixed up with the (IMHO) superior 60s “Jason and the Argonauts”, but it looks like it should still be good for a laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/6 "2009-12-16T22:41:33Z")
Hey, that’s not a bad plan for a reboot. I was just thinking last night about how few movies these days are set in classical Rome or Greece. I wouldn’t make any bets on the quality of this new movie but there’s no reason that this couldn’t be fun. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/7 "2009-12-16T23:56:10Z")
I _loved_ the original one as a child. This one looks okay so far, I’m mildly interested. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/8 "2009-12-17T00:08:10Z")
OTOH, “TITANS WILL CLASH” is a profoundly stupid tagline. I mean, yeah, the film’s called “Clash of the Titans”; one would expect a certain level of titan-clashing activity. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/9 "2009-12-17T00:14:00Z")
I liked the original movie. For it’s time, it was cool. But it looks like they are gonna make remake it awesome!. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/10 "2009-12-17T01:00:26Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > OTOH, “TITANS WILL CLASH” is a profoundly stupid tagline. I mean, yeah, the film’s called “Clash of the Titans”; one would expect a certain level of titan-clashing activity. That was EXACTLY what I was thinking! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/11 "2009-12-17T01:27:49Z")
OTOH, “TITANS WILL CLASH” is a profoundly stupid tagline. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/12 "2009-12-17T02:49:50Z")
It looks like someone mashed up _Gladiator_, _Lord of the Rings_, and _Star Trek V_ together. Meanwhile, why can’t someone make a decent effort at adapting _The Epic of Gilgamesh_? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/13 "2009-12-17T02:57:25Z")
Eh, looks like every other fantasy action epic from the last 10 years. Harryhausen movies are at least good for cheesy fun. This trailer had me bored by the end. But I do like Pete Postlethwaite - that was him in the trailer, right? ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/14 "2009-12-17T03:51:16Z")
Mmm, I’m not so sure about this. The plot summary on [imdb.com](http://imdb.com) says, “The mortal son of the god Zeus embarks on a perilous journey to stop the underworld and its minions from spreading their evil to Earth as well as the heavens.” That doesn’t sound like the story of Perseus at all. Dammit, I hate when they mix Judeo-Christian mythology with Greek mythology! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/15 "2009-12-17T04:24:28Z")
From what I’ve read, it seems that they’re not paying an awful lot of attention to the original myth. The ovie looks as if they came up with it by watching the original and free-associating on their own. It’s too bad, because for all its faults, the original actually did derive from the myths, albeit in a very distorted form. But Calibos occupied the same position that Phineas did in the original myth, and was visually more interesting. The Burgess Meredith character was arguably Simonides. And the script pretty clearly owes a big debt to Ovid’s _Metamorphoses_. Beverly Cross, who wrote the screenplay for this (and for **Jason and the Argonauts** , and **Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger** ) was classically trained, and so knew his stuff. In interviews he argued that he changed things around in order to make a dramatically interesting story. In doing so, he did what others had already done, but he kept closer to the original stories. Outside of the _Jim Henson’s The Storyteller_ adaptation and the recent **Clash of the Gods** episode (which were only short TV episodes), this is the closest to the original story. The new version has awesome-looking special effects (I’ve known for years that it was only a matter of time before someone tackled Medusa in CGI), but I think they got their mythology from the first movie and the Disney version of _Hercules_. The real giveaway is the giant Scorpion. Ain’t no scorpion in the original myth (Although, as Cross surely knew, there was a tradition from Apollodorus that Medusa’s blood, dripping on the sands of Africa, gave birth to poisonous creatures. The original CotT has the giant scorpions being born from the dripping blood of Medusa’s head, so it has a clear relation to the original myths). On The Other Hand – this is how myths perpetuate and develop through time. Even if they invent a lot of this out of whole cloth, they still seem to be retaining key features of the myth – I can see the eyeless Graeae from whom Perseus must steal the Eye. I’ll bet any money that a petrifying snaky-headed Gorgon is there, and Andromeda and a Sea Monster. For all its deviation from the “canonical” story – which is, in all likelihood, not the original story – it’s still closer to the “real” myth than the version told by Pausanias. Or the “novelization” of Dionysus Skytobrachion. This version will be seen by millions of moviegoers (and, later, by DVD renters and buyers, downloaders of video files, gamers playing the tie-in, and even readers who purchase the novelization – surely there will be one. Maybe Alan Dean Foster will write it again – and the story, even in its changed form, will be made known to another generation of viewers. ---
**Author:** ![Kylede](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@Kylede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kylede)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/16 "2009-12-17T05:43:50Z")
OK , I just checked IMDB to compare the casts of the 1981 and 2010 versions 1981 - Laurence Olivier, and Maggie Smith…2 great british Thespians Burgess Meredith - The man who played Mickey in “Rocky” and the Penguin Ursula Andress - One smoking hot Bond Babe ( and this is coming form a gay man) Harry Hamlin - In his prime, NO ONE pulls off the leather skirt better then him 2010 - Liam Neeson and Ralph Finnes - You guys have come a long way from dual oscar nominations for “Schindlers List” Sam Worthington - Hmmm. Maybe we will soon be seeing him for the next 5-6 years on an NBC 10 o’clock, #1 in the rating drama (LOL…NBC having a #1 rated show, or any scripted show at 10pm EST) Yeah, I think I have to give it to the 1981 version ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/17 "2009-12-17T06:03:15Z")
Damn. I thought you were talking about [this](http://video.adultswim.com/metalocalypse/clash-of-the-titans.html) clash of the titans. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/18 "2009-12-17T12:24:45Z")
I’ll reserve judgment. This was a little too little for me to tell. Just a bunch of manic shots. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/19 "2009-12-17T12:32:25Z")
I’m just happy that they’re setting a movie in my city. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338/20 "2010-03-30T22:33:11Z")
Thought I’d mention that I saw this last night at a sneak preview and it was pretty good! Nothing earth-shattering, though maybe ear-shattering. It’s loud! But not excruciatingly so. The 3D didn’t really bring anything to the table. I would have enjoyed it just as much, if not a bit more, in 2D. I might pay to see it again in 2D, where it’ll be brighter. It’s just about exactly what you’d expect from seeing the trailer. I wish I hadn’t seen the trailer beforehand. There’s a lot of stuff shown in the trailer that I wish I’d seen for the first time on the big screen, like the…uh, “Crackin” or whatever that thing was at the end. Can you tell, I don’t know much about mythology. I studied it in high school but forgot most of it. To show my ignorance, last week I finally got around to seeing Percy Jackson and the Really Long Title and was set in my “knowledge” that Percy (who I thought was an updated Perseus) was the son of Poseidon. In Clash he’s the son of Zeus. Not that I care one way or the other. It’s interesting (and racy) stuff, but not enough for me to go digging, not at this point anyway. Still, I hope Percy Jackson and Clash bring a new generation to mythology. If they don’t get totally confused. Edit to add, man, those giant scorpions are BADASS! I wish I hadn’t seen them in the trailer either. > [@Kylede](#): > > Sam Worthington - Hmmm. Maybe we will soon be seeing him for the next 5-6 years on an NBC 10 o’clock, #1 in the rating drama (LOL…NBC having a #1 rated show, or any scripted show at 10pm EST) This is funny. I saw that it was posted 2 days before **Avatar** was released. If people don’t know Sam Worthington by now, they will make note after Clash comes out. He’s not going to be relegated to TV anytime soon. [Gemma Aterton](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2605345/) is set to become popular too. You fall in love with her in this, and she’s also going to be the Leading Lady in **Prince of Persia**. She’s adorable. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clash-of-the-titans/521338.md?page=2)