South Korea / 39 episodes of 20 minutes each / SBS Productions
This TV series, based on a manga that was producd in Korea entitled “”The Greek and Roman Myths in Comics” (20 volumes), recounts various myths, particularly divine myths, using a framing device: Two children, Ji-woo and Ji-yeon, find a book of myths in their father’s painting studio and ask him to tell them the stories. A list of episodes can be found on the show’s wikipedia page cited below, as well as lively descriptions of the characterizations of the gods. The myth of Kronos eating his children is where the series begins, and as it develops its focus is mainly on stories from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, but the heroic adventures of Odysseus, Hercules, and Jason are also featured.
In 2005 a feature-length film was also released entitled “Olympus Guardian: Gigantes Counterattack” [그리스 로마 신화 – 올림포스 가디언 – 기간테스 대역습]. The film focuses on Triton, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, and his coming of age. It is not a story based on any ancient Greek narrative. The official summary reads, “Can Triton, the prince of the sea, save the peace of Olympus and his mother?”
6 min. / no dialog / Director: Sieglinde Hamacher / DEFA Studio for Animation Films
In this episodic and roughly-drawn short set to moody synth music, a mountain comes to life and throws boulders at a nude man who is hiding in a cave. He runs away but cannot avoid the rocks. The mountain deity points to a peak and the man begins to roll one of the boulders toward it. He struggles mightily; the boulder falls back over him and rolls down the hill. He tries again. This time the boulder comes to life — it has a face. The man pushes it more easily, but the boulder tricks the man and rolls back down the hill. Now the man has grown older; he has a beard. He begins again with the personified boulder. They rest and the man wipes sweat from his own face as well as the boulder’s. The boulder smiles as it rolls down again and the man follows behind. The man’s beard grows long and he acquires a cane, but now he easily rolls the boulder up the hill. They seem to enjoy working together and the boulder aids the man in his efforts, even helping him up the hill at times. The man finally succeeds in getting the rock to the top, and celebrates for a moment before it falls screaming into a sea below. This upsets the man and we see him break down in tears. The film ends with the man rolling a new boulder up the hill as the credits roll.
In 1993, MGM/UA rebooted the Pink Panther franchise with a new TV series that lasted two seasons. In this series, unlike in previous ones, the Panther was a speaking character, which was apparently a controversial change.
This episode blends quintessential elements from the epic stories of Jason, Odysseus, Theseus and Perseus to create a silly adventure for Pinky (the Pink Panther), a shepherd who is tending to two sheep, one white and one gold. A burly soldier who identifies himself as Jason appears when Pinky is grooming the pair. He demands the golden fleece for his wife, but is refused, as the sheep belongs to the king.
The two sheep participate in a fashion show and the queen demands that a stole be made for her from the golden fleece. Jason steals the fleece and flees but a strand of its wool leaves a clue, much like Ariadne’s ball of thread, for Pinky and his sheep sidekick to pursue.
Jason escapes by boat and throws food in the water to rouse a sea serpent who tries and fails to eat the pursuing pair. He then retreats to an island where he order some “babes on a half-shell” to sing and seduce his pursuers. These apparent Sirens do slow the two down, but they themselves are seduced by the false offer or a recording contract by Pinky in disguise. Next Pinky and the sheep are lured to a cave where a doofy Cyclops lives. He places them on a rotisserie, but they escape by distracting him with a Viewfinder (which he can’t figure out how to use). [A Cyclops also appears in the episode “Pinkus Pantherus” from the show’s first season.]
Finally they catch up to Jason as he reaches home, only to find that all of the golden sheep’s fleece has unraveled. Jason’s wife grows enraged at this and reveals herself as Medusa. She transforms various things to stone with her zapping gaze, including her husband. Pinky is able to avoid this fate by quickly weaving a wig from the golden fleece for her, which she welcomes with pleasure. He then returns home and tricks the queen by making her stole from his sidekick’s fleece and painting it gold.
17 min; no dialog; dir. Anatoly Solin / Multelefilm
A humorous history of the Olympic games, made in the context of the 1980 Moscow Olympics (see also Khitruk’s film Olympians and I. S. Aksenchuk’s The Grand Relay for other Russian treatments of this topic).
As Georgy Borodin notes, “Due to the time required to rework the script, the film’s production schedule was greatly compressed. This prompted Solin and Pshenichnaya to abandon backgrounds and celluloid and choose an unusual technology: the entire film was shot on sheets of “tracing paper” (the outline was drawn with a pen and colored with colored pencils), while the set design was simplified to a minimum and reduced to a few details that were drawn anew at every phase of movement.”
The film begins with an overview of the ancient Greek world: we see Poseidon in the water, Icarus attempting to fly, a temple surrounded by ruins and statues. The main narrative of the film is the rivalry between Ares and Hercules, who challenge each other to compete in a series of sporting events which Zeus sanctions by laughing at the pair. First up is a wrestling match, then a discus throwing competition, an archery competition, a chariot race, the long jump, a running race, a weight-lifting contest, and finally a boxing match. Funny things happen during each event – for example, the horses win the chariot race after Ares pushes Hercules then falls down himself. Zeus gets angry at Ares for cheating and throws lightning bolts at him at one point. Hercules wins the final event fair and square and Zeus awards him the victory. The film ends with Nike placing a victory wreath on his head and the spectators cheering, then erecting statues in his honor.
An absolutely stunning rendering of this quintessential myth of love and loss by independent Scottish animator Lesley Keen. Keen’s work has often engaged with mythical themes (see also her short film, “Invocation” and her feature film “Ra: Path of the Sun God”). Her website comments on this tendency in her work: “Animation has been a means to an end for Lesley, whose personal work has explored many aspects of non-narrative film making, frequently using mythology as subject matter. It is all about bringing to life concepts that could not be made visible by any other means.”
“Orpheus and Eurydice” was one of a number of films she was commissioned to create for the British public broadcast Channel 4 in the 1980s. In it, Keen uses dynamic line animation inspired by Greek red-figure vase painting to tell the story of Orpheus’ descent to the underworld to retrieve his beloved. The “long take sequence” and sidescrolling movement of the film recalls the action of turning a vase around to view the art on all its sides. The hero Orpheus encounters famous figures of the underworld including Cerberus, the sinners Sisyphus, Tantalus and Ixion, as well as Persephone and Hades himself.
The film features a haunting synthesizer score by Lyell Creswell and was nominated for the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at Cannes in 1984.
22 min. / English / Season 32, Episode 2 / dir. Rob Oliver
The Simpsons revisit the ancient world again in this episode focused on ancient Rome (for their retelling of Homer’s Odyssey, see the episode, “Tales from the Public Domain”).
The episode is framed as a story told by a museum curator to the family as they visit an exhibit on ancient Rome. The story told is of Obesus the Wide (played by Homer), a poor man who is sold into slavery by his father. He becomes a gladiator (with nods to the Ridley Scott film) and catches the eye of Marjora (Marge), his master’s daughter, whom he impregnates (there’s a fun Spartacus reference here as each gladiator claims “I had sexicus” when interrogated about it). He is freed so that they can be married, and her father then puts him in charge of his laundry business.
The pair have twins, Bartigula and Lisandra. Obesus becomes wealthy after he comes up with a clever way to collect the urine needed to clean clothing – by placing pots to collect it outside of taverns. Marjora then urges him to climb the rungs of power. He is made a Senator after he assassinates Emperor Quimbus at the behest of his adopted father Senator Mortimus (aka Mr. Burns). Marjora then urges Bartigula to assassinate Mortimus (now emperor) in a quest to gain even more power and influence. Bartigula does so and then promptly goes on a megalomaniacal spree much like his namesake Caligula: he declares war on Neptune, builds a wall to keep out foreign invaders, and proclaims himself a god. Finally, Obesus insists on putting an end to his son’s reign and the two duke it out in the arena where they both meet their end (again, a la Gladiator). The episode ends with the museum curator summing up the lesson of his tale: “stop letting stupid people into museums.”
The historical references and cultural cliches fly thick and fast in this episode. As Den of Geek reviewer Tony Sokol notes, “It is one of the many episodes which will get funnier on repeated viewings. It won’t produce more laughs, but the references will seem more clever.”
Fun facts: The theme song from the short-lived animated Hanna-Barbera show “The Roman Holidays” appears twice in this episode.
The Roman gods appear at the end of the episode and make fun of the show as if they’ve just watched it. They speculate that the series will be coming to an end soon.
A set of five Funko Pop! figurines was created featuring the family in their Roman guises, as well as Mr. Burns.
Mike Duncan, creator of The History of Rome podcast, served as historical consultant for the episode.
Writer Cesar Mazariegos was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Animation for this episode.
5 min; no dialog; Hungary; dir. Géza M. Tóth ; KEDD Animation Studio
This dramatic adaptation of the story of Icarus and his flight is a delightful example of sand animation, and well suited to the subject matter. The film opens with serene images of the beach, shells and waves crashing. Suddenly a human figure made out of a jumble of metal parts appears and scares away the birds as he sprouts wings and attempts to fly. He falls to the ground and shatters on the beach. He then re-composes himself and ascends the cliff to try again, but again he fails in his flight. The waves crash over him and he is revealed to be a human man. All of the metallic parts have disappeared and again he begins his ascent in a swimming/flying motion. The film ends on an ambiguous but seemingly positive note. With its focus on technology and perseverence, it is similar to 1976’s Icarus and the Wise Men by Fyodor Khitruk.
Ikarosz was nominated for the Golden-Bear at Berlin International Film Festival. Other awards include Augsburg International Independent Film Festival, 1997, (Grand Prix); Dresden Animation and Short Film Festival, 1998, (Special Prize); “KROK-97” Film Festival, Kiev, 1997, (Special Prize).
5 min. / Russian: no subtitles / dir. David Cherkassky / Kievnauchfilm
This is a funny little film about the Cynic philosopher Diogenes of Sinope who allegedly lived in a barrel. We first observe him in the barrel, avidly scribbling down his thoughts. Two men appear and seem to argue outside the barrel about wine and war, but this doesn’t distract him from his work. Then the words “But Diogenes purchased an apartment” flash on the screen. He aims to continue writing but gets distracted with the furnishing of the apartment. We see him acquiring more furniture, cleaning and arranging all his possessions, becoming too tired to write. As he goes to buy another new table, he passes by the old barrel and recalls how productive he used to be. He decides to return to the barrel, but he has become too fat and wealthy, and as he enters the barrel it breaks into pieces.
In this rhyming riff on the Argonauts’ adventure, Popeye tells Swee’Pea the story of the golden fleece. The queen of Greece (Sea Hag) complains to the king (Wimpy) that she wants a golden fleece. He summons “Jason the Sailorman” to retrieve it. He sails the seas and sings while being attacked by Jupiter and Neptune (both played by Brutus/Bluto). He then withstands the alluring song of the Siren-like “Lorelei Loons” by putting two empty spinach cans over his ears. He finally reaches an island where Olive Oyl requests that he buy a ticket to see the golden fleece, which actually turns out to be the “Golden Fleas Circus,” a sideshow attraction. After one last battle with a Centaur (also played by Brutus/Bluto), he takes the box of fleas and returns to Greece, where he gifts them to the queen. The short ends with her scratching herself and King Wimpy thanking Jason for his efforts.
Mickey, Donald and Goofy are in a chariot race with Minnie and Daisy to see who can deliver pizza the fast to Pizzamides’ palace, but none of them are sure of the way there. Along the way the encounter a Gorgon, a Minotaur and a Centaur who help them find their way. As the climb the hill to the palace their chariots come unhitched and they slide backwards down the hill. Luckily a Pegasus or two is there to help them with a ride to the top, just in time for lunch. But the pizza toppings are all mixed up, and Pizzamides is angry! Minnie persuades him to try the pizza as it is and he finds out its delicious. In the end, everyone enjoys a pizza not-so-perfect party together.
This very simple CGI short, which is the first segment of the show’s eighth episode, offers the youngest of viewers the opportunity to become familiar with some of the most essential mythological creatures of ancient Greece.
Animated Antiquity 