Every movie buff who is a fan of stop-motion animation will readily recall Talos, the enormous bronze statue who came to life in Ray Harryhausen's classic movie Jason and the Argonauts – more about which later here. But who – or what – exactly was Talos?
In classical Greek mythology, the deity who drove the sun chariot across the sky each day was not actually a god but rather a titan, called Helios, whose most famous artistic representation was none other than the Colossus of Rhodes – an immense statue created by a renowned sculptor known as Chares of Lindos, standing 110 ft tall, covered externally with burnished sheets of bronze, and deemed to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Tragically, it stood intact for just 56 years during the 3rd Century BC before being felled by an earthquake.
Interestingly, however, long before this spectacular work of art had been created, its subject, Helios, had already become associated with a bronze giant, but this one was of a much more animate nature. In the dialect of Crete, Helios became Talos – and according to Cretan legends incorporated into classical Greek mythology, Talos was a gigantic living man cast entirely from bronze (or brass in some versions) by the fire god Hephaestus. Talos contained a single internal vein running from his neck to his feet, and was sealed at one ankle by a huge bronze nail. This vein was filled with ichor, a magical substance present only within the very blood of the gods themselves, thereby rendering Talos immortal.
After Zeus had seduced the maiden Europa while assuming the form of a great bull, he carried her off on his back across the sea to the island of Crete. When they arrived there, he placed Talos on guard, to ensure that no-one abducted her, and Talos thereafter ran around the island three times every day to keep a constant watch for anyone who may try to rescue her, hurling huge boulders out to sea at any approaching ship. Eventually, Europa became Queen of Crete, but Talos remained, ever vigilant. According to a different version of the Talos legend, he was given by Hephaestus to Minos, King of Crete, as a gift, but once again he guarded the island by running around its perimeter three times a day.
One of the creepiest scenes in any fantasy film appears in Jason and the Argonauts – a thoroughly enjoyable, albeit decidedly Hollywoodised, treatment of the epic Greek legend. Directed by Don Chaffey and released in 1963, it is filled with classic stop-motion special effects created by the master of screen monsters, Ray Harryhausen. The scene in question is when, while en route to Colchis in order to steal the Golden Fleece, hero Jason (played by Todd Armstrong) and his fellow Argonauts aboard their mighty ship the Argo reach the Isle of Bronze, reputedly guarded by Talos. Yet at least on first sight he seems to be nothing more than a giant bronze statue (one of several in a valley there), sculpted in crouching position on top of a massive chamber serving as a pedestal but packed from floor to ceiling inside with countless treasures.
Ignoring Jason’s strict instructions not to take anything from the island when they go ashore, two of the Argonauts, Hercules (Nigel Green) and Hylas (John Cairney), plunder the treasure chamber, stealing from it an enormous jewelled brooch that Hercules plans to use as a spear. But as they re-emerge with the pin and look up at the enormous statue of Talos on top of the chamber, to their horror the 'statue' suddenly turns its head with a loud graunching sound and looks down at them! And as they watch, terror-stricken, Talos swiftly comes totally alive and steps down from the chamber, poised to stomp on them like tiny ants as they flee before him, racing back to their ship to alert the other Argonauts of the monster that their greed has unleashed upon them all.
Happily, Talos is rendered immobile once more, when, guided by the voice of the goddess Hera (Honor Blackman), Jason successfully prises out of his heel the cork that retains his body's vital ichor, which gushes out from his vein, bringing Talos's immortality to an abrupt end. Nevertheless, Hylas does not escape from paying the ultimate price for having assisted Hercules in pilfering the brooch pin from the treasure chamber, because after been immobilised, Talos crashes to the ground, crushing the hapless Hylas beneath his immense prone form.
Unlike the Colossus of Rhodes, which unquestionably once existed, there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Talos was ever anything more substantial than a figure of legend. Nevertheless, as an animate metallic humanoid entity in the annals of world mythology, he may well lay claim to being the world’s first robot (long before the likes of such early modern-day counterparts as 'the Man-Machine' in Fritz Lang's classic 1927 movie Metropolis, for instance) – were it not of course for the fact that in his murderous pursuit of any hapless visitors to his island domain, he clearly paid scant regard to Isaac Asimov’s celebrated Three Laws of Robotics!
Finally: please click here to view the chilling scene from Jason and the Argonauts when Talos comes to life - even more creepy than the Weeping Angels on Doctor Who, and that's saying something!
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