Always a fun scene. But, Ray Harryhausen did it first in “The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad”. And, I later years, both films would be the inspiration for the “Army Of The Dead” part 3 of the “Evil Dead” trilogy. His spanned over 7 decades, and his movies were cinematic magic. He wrote the Bible of stop motion animation, that is still referenced and used in cinema today.
I think the stop motion jerkiness makes the monster more scary. It's an unnatural surreal visual that conveys something other worldly. The "fake" to me was an element that haunting mysterious creatures from another place unknown to mankind possessed. A magical element.
That shot of the Terminator right behind Sarah and Kyle as they close the door is the creepiest part of all the movies and it’s entirely because of the stop motion. Still gives me the willies.
Yeah I agree. The suspension of disbelief was part of the fun and excitement. Same with shows like Star Trek. No impressive effects means that your imagination has to wake up and you become more engrossed.
I had the honour of meeting Ray Harryhausen back in 2002, when he received an honorary doctorate the same year I graduated from art college where I’d been studying theatre & film design. It was probably one of the most incredible moments of my life. Once I’d got my nerves under control, I told him that his work had had a huge impact upon myself & countless others on the course. A few years later in 2005, after I’d moved to London, I got to meet another of my idols...the imposing & utterly awesome Sir Christopher Lee (he was making an appearance to promote one of his heavy metal albums). He signed my copy of The Wicker Man & was more than happy to talk about that & his roles with Hammer Films.
It didn't look real, but it moved and behaved like it was real. It's something modern CGI rarely does exceptionally well and Harryhausen did it perfectly.
If you enjoy homemade stop motion, I'd appreciate a view on one of my He-Man and Skeletor videos! (Scold Friends, Blue Friends and The Secret of the Machine have the best examples of my stop motion work!)
Back in the day when special effects really were 'special'. As an impressionable little kid, I was mesmerised by Harryhausen's effects and even now, nigh on 4 decades later, I'm still thrilled watching these old movies.
That scene with Medusa in Clash of the Titans haunted me as a child! One of the creepiest and dread-filled sequences in film to this day. There's something magical about stop-motion that cannot be duplicated by CGI technology.
Didn't give me nightmares but the horned devil beast ( who was originally human but cursed like the Beast in & Beauty & The Beast ) looked terrifying aswell.
You know what's incredible is that according to the video he animated that skeleton after 20 years and look at how believable and smooth it turned out at the end! Harryhausen was a master at his craft. May he rest in peace.
@@RicardoGarcia-xz1rz Don't be so pedantic. CGI can only take effects so far. Using practical effects like stop-motion may be janky, but it is still more believable than copying and pasting a non-existent entity onto a greenscreen.
@@groundbreaker91 i guarantee you you have seen cgi multiple times without realising it in movies and advertisements. you only notice it when it's bad. if you put it next to stop motion 100% of people would agree the stop motion looks far less believable
@@red_Sun24 Believability =/= Quality. I know that goes a bit away from my point, and I will grant you that most modern uses of CGI are pretty indistinguishable from real life, but it seems that directors who go out of their way to use stop motion, and use it well, tend to garner success, monetary and otherwise, on a fairly regular basis.
Holy crap..the narrator is also a legend..Tom Baker (Dr. Who) who also stared in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. I met Mr. Harryhausen at a convention. Got to sit down at the lobby and chat with him for a little bit. Nicest man you would ever meet. He signed some stuff for me also. Such a great memory.
@@Midwinter2 At that lobby chit chat i told him he gave me some great childhood memories watching them and that they will always be something i cherish, and thanked him. He look at me in the face and said that is one of the nicest things that has ever been said to him and we shook hands..yeah what a great memory.
I had the absolute privilege of sitting in on a lecture given by Mr. Harryhausen a few years ago in Vancouver. A truly amazing man. I could hype up how interesting his insight and commentaries were, but I think I'll share a rather weird detail instead: The man had the hands of a titan. Absolutely enormous. That always stuck with me, because you might think such beefy mittens might make it harder to produce such finely detailed and lifelike animation. Obviously this was not the case.
Never spent much time with my father but we always used to enjoy watching Jason and the Argonauts together, my father is an old fashioned sort of guy and we both had an appreciation for the artform, Thanks Ray
I'm very glad my first movie-going experience was 1987's "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids", because watching stop-motion ants and scorpions fighting tiny humans next to giant Lego blocks on the big screen was like seeing magic for the first time. Inspired me to make my own stop-motion Lego movies as a teenager.
Watching any of the Harryhausen movies as a kid took me to another place that was magical.....kids today will never understand what seeing these creatures back in the days did to us and our imaginations!!!
I saw 7th Voyage of Sinbad as a kid when it came out, we were sure lucky to have a movie maker like him. Let's not forget the great music he had in a lot of his movies. Thanks for sharing.
@@Midwinter2 In 1960 I was a 14 year old girl in love with Sinbad lead Kerwin Mathews,as well as all the fabulous monsters, so it was a full banquet feast for me:))
Yeah Ray informed my childhood! What he was producing was miles ahead of anyone else at the time! Truly inspirational to me as a young boy and young man!
I remember I was just a young boy when my father was watching Jason and the Argonauts on TV. When I saw that statue turn his head, that creeped me out for years. I still got a chill when I saw it here. Thank God for Ray Harryhausen. Without him, even today's films would be much less interesting.
It absolutely WAS. I remember when it came out, watching it was exactly like watching a really, really good horror film and the Terminator was the ultimate monster, it was the best, to me.
It _is_ a horror movie. The sci-fi aspect in T1 is pretty much inconsequential. The Terminator could have been a magical invincible demon from another dimension instead and it would have been exactly the same film. Even in T2, where the horror element is blunted because the good guys have their own killer robot, and it's more of a straight actioner, the shapeshifting T-1000 is a rather terrifying villain who wouldn't be out of place in horror.
What do they serve at Harry (or is it Hairy) Hausen? I can tell you why it's impossible to get a reservation there. It closed a very long time ago. Wasn't Harry Hausen a German restaurant in the Flintstones cartoon series? I think the name of the place translates from German to English to mean "Harry's Houses" as in a restaurant franchise or it was "House of Hairy Men" in reference to the usual grooming habits (or lack thereof) of the male customers.
Harryhausen's animation was so friking awesome at the time his work was produced! As a child, and as a teen watching his art in the movies, I was taken away to a realm where the incredible became real and alive. I will be eternally thankful for his contributions to the art.
That is true movie art! The patience and discipline to create these models and animate them is amazing. His best work in my opinion is GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD.
I didn't realise until I saw the credits at the end that that was the voice of Tom Baker, the 4th Doctor Who, who was narrating. And it's fitting, because he played Koura in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (that's him at 24:25 in this), and it was this role that brought him to the attention of the Doctor Who showrunners and got him the part. Harryhausen was simply the greatest special effects maestro of all time. His influence was phenomenal. At the time he retired after Clash of the Titans in 1981, the Star Wars trilogy was in full swing, and stop motion played a massive part in those films- the Dejarik board from A New Hope, the Tauntauns, the space slug and the AT-AT's from Empire Strikes Back, the Rancor from Return of the Jedi, and I think they used a lot of it in the space battles of all three as well. I've seen a lot of the latest CG-heavy effects-based blockbusters from the last few years- the MCU films, the new Star Wars trilogy, the Monsterverse, but the stop motion marvels of Harryhausen still amaze me to this day. Medusa may be his greatest work, but I still have to cite the duel against Kali as my favourite.
Ray's patience and love and dedication to his outstanding craft and talent brought us TRUE movie magic and really made us dream. You could basically taste the periods in which his movies were playing. And I will forever respect this man and his works. Watching his films as a kid and then later re-watching them as an adult is an everlasting experience that just always amazes you and leaves you speechless. Mister Harryhausen, you will be sorely missed. It has been a true honor to have you among us.
R.I.P. Ray F. Harryhausen 1920 - 2013. We will*NEVER* forget you ray, You have been such an incredible inspiration to us all, And you *ALWAYS* and forever will be a stop motion animation legend to us. For everything and all the spectacular films you and your dear friend Charles H. Schneer and most especially your life long idol Willis H. O'Brien have made in the past century, You 3 have such *INCREDIBLE INSPIRING MIND-BOGGLING and UNBELIEVABLE* talent! And that is what makes you all so very special to the world of cinema. And in conclusion, God bless you Ray, Thank you for all of the spectacular work you have done and created for us all, And we'll see you in heaven. 😇😇😇😇😇 3/11/2020.
His work was amazing! Everything seemed so lifelike, so fluid and realistic. The characters moved and reacted, just the way you would imagine. I was always amazed.
THANK YOU RAY!!! For bringing to life so much of the imagery of our past. The Myths and Dinosaurs..... wonderful subjects.....Thanks again for making fine so many youthful memories!
It felt like dozens of times that I saw Jason and the Argonauts when I was a kid in the 60’s. My friend and I would imitate Talos when he came alive, jerky motion and all! That and of course, the skeleton battle. Oh, what a great time it was.
Back when special effects were actually special! If it wasn't for Ray Harryhausen and Willis Obrian we probably wouldn't have Godzilla or Jurassic Park!
Personally I wouldn't really have shed a tear, if I had had to miss seeing Jurassic Park. That's just my own opinion and should not be taken too seriously. I don't even try to take myself too seriously. It helps keep me humble and you can see for yourself from my own comments and my replies to comments of others how successful my attempts at being humble are!
RIP Mr. Harryhausen for brining childhood fantasy movies like "Jason and the Argonauts" alive. Also RIP Forrest J Ackerman (who I had the pleasure of meeting in the 80's). Incidentally Peter Jackson has most of Forrest J Ackerman's collection now of days.
My 10 y.o. daughter saw "Jason and the Argonauts" 3 years ago when she was 7, and she couldn't sleep for 2 nights; I saw it for the first time decades ago when I was 10 or 11 and could never forget it
I wasn't like that probably because I just recently watched did when I was 13 but damn it was cool seeing it's head turn around my hear was filled with fear but mainly excitement it was just amazing how it towered over all and it's weird movements were awesome
35 years old and i spent so much of my childhood watching this legend's films on the weekends and the holidays. They're so magical and enchanting and enduring. Absolutely love'em.
I still think stop motion can be used today, especially to instill horror from the alien-like motion. It was effective in The Terminator and the cartoon series Courage the Cowardly Dog Show.
my father told me a few times how those movies back then were like nothing else. they didn't know what cg was, so for them stop motion felt very real. i think that maybe my grandchildren will witness something even more realistic in the future, and talk about how cg and stop motion are "not real enough". times change.
Ray Harryhausen - genius at work. I still think the skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts were easily as effective as the Terminator robot sequence at the end of that movie.Brilliant.
As much as I love The Terminator as a whole, I'd actually say that the "skeletal" Terminator at the climax is probably one of the weakest parts of the film. Definitely, Jason and the Argonauts' skeletons are more smoothly animated, involving and scarier on their own. I won't say "more believable" because they just aren't that, but as a mythological movie that isn't the point. I "believe" the Terminator more readily, but am more invested in Argonauts' skeletons.
I have been a Harryhausen fan since the mid 1960's, and have collected EVERYTHING he's made, including his children's story short. He will forever be the master of stop motion animation! He wrote the Stop Motion Animation Bible, which IS STILL the go to manual that is still used today.
In my youth there was Saturday morning cartoons and there were Saturday afternoon Sinbad or Jason And The Argonauts sometimes Kong vs Godzilla programming. Loved his genius thank you bud! 💯
It’s my family tradition to sit and watch Jason and the Argonauts every Easter. No religious connection, just always happened to be on tv and we just carried it on! Great film though!
Ray transported me to those adventures, when I was a child I wanted to be in Clash of the titans... He is one of the great artist that led me to study cinema, and now teach it. Forever in his debt.
Ray was an amazing talent! I remember watching most of his films on TV as kid until, finally I got to see a double feature in 1981 with Clash of the Titans and Dragonslayer... That was one of the most memorable movie experiences of my life!
I was born in 57. Grew up watching all these movies as a kid. Loved Sci fi and later became an engineer and an air force captain in the aerospace end of things
I loved these kinds of movies. My father use to build up my excitement for these films and he would 0lay them early Sunday mornings after breakfast. These films are masterpieces of art
As a kid model builder I always thought the stop motion effects were the the best part of those B movies and Ray Haryhausen was the king. I watched his movies🐲 every Saturday afternoon.
When I was a Senior in High School in 1983, My friend Doug and I did a FIVE MINUTE Short film "Return to Hoth" in my back yard. We started over Winter/Christmas Vacation and ENDED JUST Before we Graduated! But we DID Get an 'A' on our project for Film Class! We even added Sound and "Blaster Bolts"! It still exists SOMEWHERE in our High School's Film class Archives! So for a FIVE MINUTE Piece of short film... it took us almost SIX MONTHS of hard work! But DAMN it was SO COOL! And the "REBELS" Won this time! :D
Ray is an absolute legend. These were the movies that had me on the edge of my seat as a kid! Can we just also mention Tom Baker (Prince Koura, Golden Voyage Of Sinbad/4th Dr Who) for his sublime narration on this video. Wonderful!
The Medusa-scene frightened the shit out of me as a kid... i really couldn't sleep and got nightmares. Seeing it today, still gives me chills. Of course the effects are not more up to date, but the way the tension is built up, the atmosphere of this scene, the sound... in combination it is absolutely breathtaking work, still today!
I do have to say, I might be a weird one but when a newer movie uses stop motion/Practical effects over digital I can't help but love it! It gives everything such an amazing look and you can feel the passion that the animator had for it when making it
Ray Harryhausen was extremely talented with his stop motion characters and so creative and clever. I love his special effects in films. Very interesting, thank you for sharing.
Back in 1997 when it was revealed that director George Lucas announced he was working on what he called the prequels, I was collecting this magazine called Wizards and this particular issue was keeping updates on casting and bits of description on story details and one of those was about 'shape shifting battle Droids', I thought of the creepiness of the warrior skeletons.
I saw that in the late 60s when it was the "B" picture coupled with "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". You can imagine which one my nine-year-old self preferred...
*I saw "Twenty Million miles to Earth" in South Carolina at my grandparents house in Saluda, South Carolina when I was a five year old boy. I loved it* !
The original Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark used a lot of stop-motion, as I recall. Harryhausen paved the way, but Spielberg and Lucas took it to another level. I don't think the Star Wars movies got any better after CGI took over everything. I'd say the storytelling went downhill as soon as the technology made it possible to present ANYthing they could imagine. It's weird how things change. The elaborate stop-motion and later CGI were supposed to make it possible to FINALLY make sci-fi and fantasy films that didn't look cheesy. You could FINALLY do justice to the writer's vision. But they no sooner got that capability than the story became subservient to the spectacle, rather than the spectacle described in the text being fully realized, without compromise.
Talos in Jason and the Argonauts still scares the 💩out of me… and Medusa in Clash of the Titans… these were the movies I grew up with and I still love them to this day 💙
Isle of Dogs would like a word! That movie was magical to watch. There is just something about stop motion that will always be great. All the great Tim Burton films.....
The fighting skeleton sequence from "Jason" is iconic movie magic.
Even as a kid watching cable in the early 90s those skeletons were awesome, so threatening and entertaining on screen.
Fuck yes
The music adds to the drama. The harpies were cool too.
Iason not Jason
Always a fun scene. But, Ray Harryhausen did it first in “The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad”. And, I later years, both films would be the inspiration for the “Army Of The Dead” part 3 of the “Evil Dead” trilogy.
His spanned over 7 decades, and his movies were cinematic magic.
He wrote the Bible of stop motion animation, that is still referenced and used in cinema today.
I think the stop motion jerkiness makes the monster more scary. It's an unnatural surreal visual that conveys something other worldly. The "fake" to me was an element that haunting mysterious creatures from another place unknown to mankind possessed. A magical element.
I agree
That shot of the Terminator right behind Sarah and Kyle as they close the door is the creepiest part of all the movies and it’s entirely because of the stop motion. Still gives me the willies.
Yeah...and its fcking cool
Not really lol
Yeah I agree. The suspension of disbelief was part of the fun and excitement. Same with shows like Star Trek. No impressive effects means that your imagination has to wake up and you become more engrossed.
I dearly loved Mr Harryhausen's great films as a kid. At the age of 70 now, I still do. His like will never come again. ❤
I had the honour of meeting Ray Harryhausen back in 2002, when he received an honorary doctorate the same year I graduated from art college where I’d been studying theatre & film design. It was probably one of the most incredible moments of my life.
Once I’d got my nerves under control, I told him that his work had had a huge impact upon myself & countless others on the course.
A few years later in 2005, after I’d moved to London, I got to meet another of my idols...the imposing & utterly awesome Sir Christopher Lee (he was making an appearance to promote one of his heavy metal albums). He signed my copy of The Wicker Man & was more than happy to talk about that & his roles with Hammer Films.
Wow, you must have been so blessed to meet 2 of your idols in your lifetime, so blessed!
It wasn’t that his stuff looked real, but that it looked awesome. Beautiful art. Better than real.
It didn't look real, but it moved and behaved like it was real. It's something modern CGI rarely does exceptionally well and Harryhausen did it perfectly.
It was "realistic", and that's all that we needed.✌🏽
It looked surreal, almost otherworldly. Its style truly lent itself to the fantastical creatures it was animating.
it looked amazing-but wont call it realistic
reminds me of old video games. the graphics are limited to their time but the game play is amazing
I’m 38 and I still vividly remember nightmares I had as a kid about those skeletons. I absolutely love stop motion.
😀
If you enjoy homemade stop motion, I'd appreciate a view on one of my He-Man and Skeletor videos! (Scold Friends, Blue Friends and The Secret of the Machine have the best examples of my stop motion work!)
Those skeletons were/ amazing exceptionally well executed What a genius 😁👏
Back in the day when special effects really were 'special'. As an impressionable little kid, I was mesmerised by Harryhausen's effects and even now, nigh on 4 decades later, I'm still thrilled watching these old movies.
That scene with Medusa in Clash of the Titans haunted me as a child! One of the creepiest and dread-filled sequences in film to this day. There's something magical about stop-motion that cannot be duplicated by CGI technology.
Yes the jerky quality of stop-motion adds to the creepy scariness of the thing.
yes, and the remake was awful!!
It could be duplicated though…
Didn't give me nightmares but the horned devil beast ( who was originally human but cursed like the Beast in & Beauty & The Beast ) looked terrifying aswell.
Agreed. Those Harryhousen films are indeed Magical and are still better than the majority of what Hollywood produces nowadays.
You know what's incredible is that according to the video he animated that skeleton after 20 years and look at how believable and smooth it turned out at the end! Harryhausen was a master at his craft. May he rest in peace.
Ray and Derek Meddings (yes, Thunderbirds etc.) - both so creative and imaginative - we're lucky they never took a job in the civil service!
Don't look smooth at all. That's why the stop motion was replaced by well done CGI. And I'm not talking about the atrocious CGI of Marvel these days.
@@RicardoGarcia-xz1rz Don't be so pedantic. CGI can only take effects so far. Using practical effects like stop-motion may be janky, but it is still more believable than copying and pasting a non-existent entity onto a greenscreen.
@@groundbreaker91 i guarantee you you have seen cgi multiple times without realising it in movies and advertisements. you only notice it when it's bad. if you put it next to stop motion 100% of people would agree the stop motion looks far less believable
@@red_Sun24 Believability =/= Quality. I know that goes a bit away from my point, and I will grant you that most modern uses of CGI are pretty indistinguishable from real life, but it seems that directors who go out of their way to use stop motion, and use it well, tend to garner success, monetary and otherwise, on a fairly regular basis.
Holy crap..the narrator is also a legend..Tom Baker (Dr. Who) who also stared in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. I met Mr. Harryhausen at a convention. Got to sit down at the lobby and chat with him for a little bit. Nicest man you would ever meet. He signed some stuff for me also. Such a great memory.
tom baker will always be my favourite dr who!
@@nklin6 He is my fav Dr Who too.
Wow! Wow! just. WOW!
The narrator's delivery reminded me of the narrator on 1001 Ways to Die.
@@Midwinter2 At that lobby chit chat i told him he gave me some great childhood memories watching them and that they will always be something i cherish, and thanked him. He look at me in the face and said that is one of the nicest things that has ever been said to him and we shook hands..yeah what a great memory.
I had the absolute privilege of sitting in on a lecture given by Mr. Harryhausen a few years ago in Vancouver. A truly amazing man. I could hype up how interesting his insight and commentaries were, but I think I'll share a rather weird detail instead:
The man had the hands of a titan. Absolutely enormous. That always stuck with me, because you might think such beefy mittens might make it harder to produce such finely detailed and lifelike animation. Obviously this was not the case.
Never spent much time with my father but we always used to enjoy watching Jason and the Argonauts together, my father is an old fashioned sort of guy and we both had an appreciation for the artform, Thanks Ray
The man was an absolute genius!🤗👌👍
One of a kind ^^
I'm very glad my first movie-going experience was 1987's "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids", because watching stop-motion ants and scorpions fighting tiny humans next to giant Lego blocks on the big screen was like seeing magic for the first time. Inspired me to make my own stop-motion Lego movies as a teenager.
I never saw that movie because I hated the title!
@@Ndlanding the first one is a classic. The rest are mostly trash. I’d definitely give it a watch though.
Yeah that was epic
@@WildTrek I'm looking for it!
1989
He will forever live in our minds and our hearts, long live Jason and the Argonauts!!!!!!
And a few others 😉
All of them!!!!!
not if TMBG have anything to say about it! lol
I Have to admit the hero kind of story clash of the titans was better for that
Watching any of the Harryhausen movies as a kid took me to another place that was magical.....kids today will never understand what seeing these creatures back in the days did to us and our imaginations!!!
I saw 7th Voyage of Sinbad as a kid when it came out, we were sure lucky to have a movie maker like him. Let's not forget the great music he had in a lot of his movies. Thanks for sharing.
Bernard HERMANN - Icon (from 976-CREOLEMAN)!
I watched recently with my family when I was 13 I didn't expect much but when I saw the cyclops it was just awesome
@@Midwinter2 In 1960 I was a 14 year old girl in love with Sinbad lead Kerwin Mathews,as well as all the fabulous monsters, so it was a full banquet feast for me:))
Thank you, RUclips algorithm, for suggesting this to us 8 years later! : )
Same here! Pretty neat video though!
So there not supposed to recommend old videos?
Sameee lmao
me too!
It says 7, are you from the future or is it that Russia is 1 year apart of the rest of the word? 😂
Rip Ray I grew up watching and loving your stop motion :)
Yeah Ray informed my childhood! What he was producing was miles ahead of anyone else at the time! Truly inspirational to me as a young boy and young man!
I remember I was just a young boy when my father was watching Jason and the Argonauts on TV. When I saw that statue turn his head, that creeped me out for years. I still got a chill when I saw it here.
Thank God for Ray Harryhausen. Without him, even today's films would be much less interesting.
Today's films *are* much less interesting. Well, often.
I grew up watching these movies on Tv and Theater. I miss those days. Ty Harry! Ty for all you did.
2:09 I forgot how the first Terminator was bordering on being a damn horror movie lol
That's why I liked the 1st one the best
It absolutely WAS. I remember when it came out, watching it was exactly like watching a really, really good horror film and the Terminator was the ultimate monster, it was the best, to me.
It's a slasher movie with science fiction trappings.
It _is_ a horror movie. The sci-fi aspect in T1 is pretty much inconsequential. The Terminator could have been a magical invincible demon from another dimension instead and it would have been exactly the same film. Even in T2, where the horror element is blunted because the good guys have their own killer robot, and it's more of a straight actioner, the shapeshifting T-1000 is a rather terrifying villain who wouldn't be out of place in horror.
Its not a horror movie. Maybe for beta males but gigachads only see an action robot.
Harryhausen? It's impossible to get a reservation there!
I have a suspicion that was actually a nod to his legacy.
However, he's no match for googley bear.
"Not for Googly Bear"
I thought the name reminded me of Mike wazoski
What do they serve at Harry (or is it Hairy) Hausen? I can tell you why it's impossible to get a reservation there. It closed a very long time ago. Wasn't Harry Hausen a German restaurant in the Flintstones cartoon series? I think the name of the place translates from German to English to mean "Harry's Houses" as in a restaurant franchise or it was "House of Hairy Men" in reference to the usual grooming habits (or lack thereof) of the male customers.
@@CaptainMcTubeSnoot Mike Wazowski: I will see you at quitting time and not a minute later.
Harryhausen's animation was so friking awesome at the time his work was produced! As a child, and as a teen watching his art in the movies, I was taken away to a realm where the incredible became real and alive. I will be eternally thankful for his contributions to the art.
That is true movie art! The patience and discipline to create these models and animate them is amazing. His best work in my opinion is GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD.
His stop motion work completely blew people away back in the day .Ray was a master at his craft
I didn't realise until I saw the credits at the end that that was the voice of Tom Baker, the 4th Doctor Who, who was narrating. And it's fitting, because he played Koura in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (that's him at 24:25 in this), and it was this role that brought him to the attention of the Doctor Who showrunners and got him the part.
Harryhausen was simply the greatest special effects maestro of all time. His influence was phenomenal. At the time he retired after Clash of the Titans in 1981, the Star Wars trilogy was in full swing, and stop motion played a massive part in those films- the Dejarik board from A New Hope, the Tauntauns, the space slug and the AT-AT's from Empire Strikes Back, the Rancor from Return of the Jedi, and I think they used a lot of it in the space battles of all three as well. I've seen a lot of the latest CG-heavy effects-based blockbusters from the last few years- the MCU films, the new Star Wars trilogy, the Monsterverse, but the stop motion marvels of Harryhausen still amaze me to this day. Medusa may be his greatest work, but I still have to cite the duel against Kali as my favourite.
Oh, my i thought that was just me lol
Ray's patience and love and dedication to his outstanding craft and talent brought us TRUE movie magic and really made us dream. You could basically taste the periods in which his movies were playing. And I will
forever respect this man and his works. Watching his films as a kid and then later re-watching them as an adult is an everlasting experience that just always amazes you and leaves you speechless. Mister Harryhausen, you will be sorely missed. It has been a true honor to have you among us.
This is painstaking work. I salute you Ray Harryhausen!
Always Medusa and the 6 armed sword wielding creature statue from Sinbad will always be my favorite and memorable as a child.
R.I.P. Ray F. Harryhausen 1920 - 2013. We will*NEVER* forget you ray, You have been such an incredible inspiration to us all, And you *ALWAYS* and forever will be a stop motion animation legend to us. For everything and all the spectacular films you and your dear friend Charles H. Schneer and most especially your life long idol Willis H. O'Brien have made in the past century, You 3 have such *INCREDIBLE INSPIRING MIND-BOGGLING and UNBELIEVABLE* talent! And that is what makes you all so very special to the world of cinema. And in conclusion, God bless you Ray, Thank you for all of the spectacular work you have done and created for us all, And we'll see you in heaven. 😇😇😇😇😇 3/11/2020.
Man, what painstakingly detailed work.
His work was amazing! Everything seemed so lifelike, so fluid and realistic. The characters moved and reacted, just the way you would imagine. I was always amazed.
It's great that this got made before he died. What patients he had. His concentration and inventiveness were amazing! 👀
THANK YOU RAY!!! For bringing to life so much of the imagery of our past. The Myths and Dinosaurs..... wonderful subjects.....Thanks again for making fine so many youthful memories!
It felt like dozens of times that I saw Jason and the Argonauts when I was a kid in the 60’s. My friend and I would imitate Talos when he came alive, jerky motion and all! That and of course, the skeleton battle. Oh, what a great time it was.
Back when special effects were actually special!
If it wasn't for Ray Harryhausen and Willis Obrian we probably wouldn't have Godzilla or Jurassic Park!
That is actually true! Godzilla was inspired by the Rhedosaurus
Phil Tippett...inspired by Harryhausen. Tippett is your Star Wars stop-motion guy. :)
Personally I wouldn't really have shed a tear, if I had had to miss seeing Jurassic Park. That's just my own opinion and should not be taken too seriously. I don't even try to take myself too seriously. It helps keep me humble and you can see for yourself from my own comments and my replies to comments of others how successful my attempts at being humble are!
ok boomer
Absolutely, it is called "uncanny valley" in aesthetics. The jerkyness throws our monkey brain off.
RIP Mr. Harryhausen for brining childhood fantasy movies like "Jason and the Argonauts" alive. Also RIP Forrest J Ackerman (who I had the pleasure of meeting in the 80's). Incidentally Peter Jackson has most of Forrest J Ackerman's collection now of days.
My 10 y.o. daughter saw "Jason and the Argonauts" 3 years ago when she was 7, and she couldn't sleep for 2 nights; I saw it for the first time decades ago when I was 10 or 11 and could never forget it
The colossus still gets me. That was nightmare fuel for me as a kid and it's just as real today as it was back then.
@@riffbw My daughter Emma said almost exactly the same
@@riffbw And yet in my case what I best remember from my childhood is the fight with the skeletons. But Talos is scary indeed.
@@Numischannel And the Bernard Herrmann music when Talos came alive.
I wasn't like that probably because I just recently watched did when I was 13 but damn it was cool seeing it's head turn around my hear was filled with fear but mainly excitement it was just amazing how it towered over all and it's weird movements were awesome
I was lucky to meet Ray when he guested at a con in Philly many years ago, he was a childhood favorite it was awesome to meet him.
35 years old and i spent so much of my childhood watching this legend's films on the weekends and the holidays. They're so magical and enchanting and enduring. Absolutely love'em.
Sinbad, Argonauts... Loved them all. Classics growing up
I still think stop motion can be used today, especially to instill horror from the alien-like motion. It was effective in The Terminator and the cartoon series Courage the Cowardly Dog Show.
my father told me a few times how those movies back then were like nothing else. they didn't know what cg was, so for them stop motion felt very real. i think that maybe my grandchildren will witness something even more realistic in the future, and talk about how cg and stop motion are "not real enough". times change.
Ray Harryhausen - genius at work.
I still think the skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts were easily as effective as the Terminator robot sequence at the end of that movie.Brilliant.
@Roots Lifted
I’m 54 and it’s still one of my favourite films,the skeletons coming out of the ground is legendary,the whole film is magic.
As much as I love The Terminator as a whole, I'd actually say that the "skeletal" Terminator at the climax is probably one of the weakest parts of the film. Definitely, Jason and the Argonauts' skeletons are more smoothly animated, involving and scarier on their own. I won't say "more believable" because they just aren't that, but as a mythological movie that isn't the point. I "believe" the Terminator more readily, but am more invested in Argonauts' skeletons.
@@MrMortull
Good point that - scary and effective doesn’t have to equate to realistic.Movies are an art form and limited only by imagination.
Artist, Engineer, Historian, Teacher, Father, Leader, Veteran, Genius!
I have been a Harryhausen fan since the mid 1960's, and have collected EVERYTHING he's made, including his children's story short. He will forever be the master of stop motion animation! He wrote the Stop Motion Animation Bible, which IS STILL the go to manual that is still used today.
How Amazing. He set the Bar and led the way. Thank you.
Fascinating documentary of the man behind stop motion animation . Ray Harryhausen is a legend !
This watch was not only informative, it was refreshingly fun and a voyage through childhood. Thank you very much for the upload.
In my youth there was Saturday morning cartoons and there were Saturday afternoon Sinbad or Jason And The Argonauts sometimes Kong vs Godzilla programming. Loved his genius thank you bud! 💯
Same!
It’s my family tradition to sit and watch Jason and the Argonauts every Easter. No religious connection, just always happened to be on tv and we just carried it on! Great film though!
So much respes for Mr. Harryhausen. I grew up with his films and for me they still enchant.
I enjoyed seeing that. Especially Ray animating the skeleton!
Ray transported me to those adventures, when I was a child I wanted to be in Clash of the titans... He is one of the great artist that led me to study cinema, and now teach it. Forever in his debt.
Ray was an amazing talent! I remember watching most of his films on TV as kid until, finally I got to see a double feature in 1981 with Clash of the Titans and Dragonslayer... That was one of the most memorable movie experiences of my life!
This is the first time I've heard your name, but you are a long time hero of mine, Ray!
He was the master & a lot of people don't even know who he is.
Tom Hanks does.
Isn’t that how it is though…
I was born in 57. Grew up watching all these movies as a kid. Loved Sci fi and later became an engineer and an air force captain in the aerospace end of things
Watching the stop motion at the theater as a 10 year old was magical.
I loved these kinds of movies. My father use to build up my excitement for these films and he would 0lay them early Sunday mornings after breakfast. These films are masterpieces of art
I loved these movies growing up. I still watch 7th Voyage and Jason every once in a while
Me too.
As a kid model builder I always thought the stop motion effects were the the best part of those B movies and Ray Haryhausen was the king. I watched his movies🐲 every Saturday afternoon.
When I was a Senior in High School in 1983, My friend Doug and I did a FIVE MINUTE Short film "Return to Hoth" in my back yard. We started over Winter/Christmas Vacation and ENDED JUST Before we Graduated! But we DID Get an 'A' on our project for Film Class! We even added Sound and "Blaster Bolts"!
It still exists SOMEWHERE in our High School's Film class Archives! So for a FIVE MINUTE Piece of short film... it took us almost SIX MONTHS of hard work!
But DAMN it was SO COOL! And the "REBELS" Won this time! :D
Sounds awesome!!!
Thx so much to Ray and all the people that brought these all to life on the screen for us to enjoy for all our lives!
The skeleton battle will always be my favorite of his, but the fluidity of those Kali motions.. wow
I loved those movies as a child and i still love them today. :D
Jason and the Argos just incredible saw it when it came out. Never forgot it RIP Ray
Truly a one of a kind talent that can't be duplicate.
Ray is an absolute legend. These were the movies that had me on the edge of my seat as a kid! Can we just also mention Tom Baker (Prince Koura, Golden Voyage Of Sinbad/4th Dr Who) for his sublime narration on this video. Wonderful!
Having grown up with Ray's flicks was so special. He truly created an alternate reality for kids of the 50's & 60's.
hail to the king Ray will live forever
What a man
Love Harryhausen. So glad to stumble on this doc.
A truly amazing talent
What was your favorite Harryhausen monster?
These pictures are some of the best movie making of all time. Loved them as a kid. Still enjoy them now.
The narrators voice is the narrator from the PC game, Hostile Waters. Fascinating.
and little britain
It's Tom Baker, the 4th doctor.
Hai salut :)))
And Trap Door "BURT! FEED ME!!!"
@@moy_moy85 No, that was Willie Rushton.
The Medusa-scene frightened the shit out of me as a kid... i really couldn't sleep and got nightmares. Seeing it today, still gives me chills. Of course the effects are not more up to date, but the way the tension is built up, the atmosphere of this scene, the sound... in combination it is absolutely breathtaking work, still today!
I do have to say,
I might be a weird one but when a newer movie uses stop motion/Practical effects over digital I can't help but love it!
It gives everything such an amazing look and you can feel the passion that the animator had for it when making it
Ray Harryhausen was extremely talented with his stop motion characters and so creative and clever. I love his special effects in films. Very interesting, thank you for sharing.
Back in 1997 when it was revealed that director George Lucas announced he was working on what he called the prequels, I was collecting this magazine called Wizards and this particular issue was keeping updates on casting and bits of description on story details and one of those was about 'shape shifting battle Droids', I thought of the creepiness of the warrior skeletons.
Too bad the Prequels ended up being hot garbage, computer effects ruined it ironically.
@@chonconnor6144 I disagree, the CGI is actually quite impressive imo.
Have loved his work since I was a child! Because of him I would make a wide variety of monsters out of clay & spend hours playing with them!
This is so much more magical then most CGI these days.
Found the boomer comment.
I'm actually from right at the younger Gen X/older Millennial transition but thanks. :)
Found the idiot repeating internet lingo cause they think it’s cool I guess ???
@@nebularain3338 Fuck You, asshole.
@@nebularain3338 Go back to tiktok, zoomer. Don't forget to bring your tide pods for snack.
Stop motion isn’t dead. Kobe and the Two Strings was 100% stop motion, was also amazing, and came out in 2016
The Jawa playing EVH's Eruption as well. Painstakingly done to get the fingering right.
Nick Park who did Wallace and Gromit and many other amazing stop-motion films does incredible work.
Kubo and the two strings is a wonderful example of modern stop motion
channel Animist counter656
@Randall Johnson yea but that show is retarded
When I was a kid The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad gave me nightmares for weeks! Great stuff!
James Cameron made The Abyss yet stop motion animation was one of the most grueling experiences of his life.
Being married to Gale Anne Hurd was also one of the most grueling experiences of his life.
@@brownsamurai3070 haaaa!!!
@@brownsamurai3070 oh my god even i have nightmares of what it must have been like to piss her off and ive never even met her.
Grew up looking at all these brilliant peices of work...thank you ray for an awesome childhood💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯
Ray Harryhausen the god of special effects
He put the "special" in special effects
alongside his mentor Willis O'Brien
Even as a 90s kid I saw those reruns in the holiday season and those damn skeletons and the cyclops scared the hell out of me!
The Valley of Gwangi is the movie that I loved
Such a wonderfully magical movie and yet so underrated
I saw that in the late 60s when it was the "B" picture coupled with "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". You can imagine which one my nine-year-old self preferred...
*I saw "Twenty Million miles to Earth" in South Carolina at my grandparents house in Saluda, South Carolina when I was a five year old boy. I loved it* !
RESPECT!!! LOVE YOU MISS YOU MAN REST IN PEACE AND PARADISE!!!
I grew up watching this mans work. There was something magical but at the same time terrifying about stop motion animation.
I hear Tom Bakers voice in the narration? Great!
Saw 'Seventh Voyage of Sinbad' in the theater. At that time, most incredible thing I'd ever seen.
The original Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark used a lot of stop-motion, as I recall. Harryhausen paved the way, but Spielberg and Lucas took it to another level. I don't think the Star Wars movies got any better after CGI took over everything. I'd say the storytelling went downhill as soon as the technology made it possible to present ANYthing they could imagine.
It's weird how things change. The elaborate stop-motion and later CGI were supposed to make it possible to FINALLY make sci-fi and fantasy films that didn't look cheesy. You could FINALLY do justice to the writer's vision. But they no sooner got that capability than the story became subservient to the spectacle, rather than the spectacle described in the text being fully realized, without compromise.
Yep the Taun Tauns from Empire Strikes Back
Oh wow I think I watched every single one of those films such great memories!
very sad to see him go, 1 million years bc made me a huge fan of fantasy and science,
I still get goosebumps seeing Talos stepping down from his plinth - scared the crap out of 6yo me back in the day! The empty eyes...
This man deserved a Nobel Prize for his work. But the most humble people are the ones who are often overlooked.
Those are from science, siplomacy or literature. Harryhausen deserved Honorary Academy Award.
Talos in Jason and the Argonauts still scares the 💩out of me… and Medusa in Clash of the Titans… these were the movies I grew up with and I still love them to this day 💙
33:54 “I think we’ve pretty much seen the last of stop-motion.”
Laika-not with that attitude!
Isle of Dogs would like a word! That movie was magical to watch. There is just something about stop motion that will always be great. All the great Tim Burton films.....