Calibos

The Seventh Voyage

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Calibos the son of Thetis patron goddess of the sea, was a handsome Young man destined to marry Princess Andromeda the daughter of Queen Cassiopeia thus one day becoming the eventual ruler of the rich city of Joppa and all of Phoenicia. However due to his mothers spoiling and indulgence of him since his birth, he committed unforgivable crimes in the eyes of Zeus the great god of Olympus. Zeus gave him the wells of the moon in his care but Calibos instead hunted trapped and killed every living creature including Zeus’ herd of sacred flying horses all except the one remaining horse Pegasus.

As punishment for his shameful mark of vile cruelty, Zeus transformed him into becoming abhorrent to human sight, becoming a mortal mockery and thus being shunned and forced to live as an outcast in the swamps and marshes. Horns sprouted from his head, a long tail was formed and one foot became cloven attached to a goat like leg as well as the face becoming more devil like.

In anger at what Zeus did to her beloved son, Thetis vowed that if Calibos could not marry Andromeda then no man would, and placed Perseus from his safe island into Joppa and blamed the treacherous move as being by ‘chance’For all Andromedas would be suitors for her hand in marriage, a test had to be passed first set by Calibos in the form of a riddle to be solved. All those that ultimately failed were burned at the steak. To relay each new riddle to Andromeda, Calibos called her astral image to his lair, which is brought by a giant vulture in a cage. On one such occasion, Perseus follows the Vulture with the princess whilst riding the flying horse Pegasus and with the aid of his helmet that renders the wearer invisible, he watches the proceedings and sees the answer to the riddle. Unknown to Perseus, Calibos sees the footprints he makes as he leaves the scene to seek Pegasus in the marsh. Calibos attacks Perseus but loses his hand to Perseus’ sword.

Calibos pleads with both vulnerability and extreme hatred to his mother Thetis to seek justice for the loss of his hand but Thetis replies that Zeus himself protects Perseus.

At the next ceremony for a new suitor, Perseus enters and guesses the riddle as being the ring of Calibos and casts the severed hand down and wins the right for the hand in Marriage of Andromeda. Foolishly Queen Cassiopeia compares Andromedas beauty as being lovelier than the Goddess Thetis herself which angers the goddess who in turn demands the life of Andromeda as a sacrifice to the Kraken in 30 days on the eve of the longest day of the year for her vain boast in the presence of her own sacred temple and for the injury inflicted on her son. The head of Medusa having been obtained is wrapped in Perseus’ robe which Calibos stabs to free the blood. This in turn enables three giant scorpions to gradually appear with which Perseus and his men have to do battle. Calibos is finally killed upon whipping Perseus around the neck and in the ensuing struggle; Perseus’ sword is thrown and embedded into Calibos’ chest.

Calibos Facts

Calibos was the first and last creature that had both the stop motion character and the live actor played by Neil McCarthy.

In the original script the character had no dialogue but after the script was re-written by Beverly Cross Calibos had quite a bit of lines in the film, Mr. Harryhausen felt that they needed a live actor.

Colin Arthur was the make-up artist that worked on actor Neil Mcarthy in the scenes in which he was in.

There are two Calibos models; one 18” version was constructed from the Trog model from SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER. The other smaller version was used for long shots.

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Ray Harryhausen on Calibos

"Calibos's name was lifted by Beverly Cross from Shakespeare's The Tempest, fashioning him after Caliban, the savage and deformed slave."

"Perhaps one of the best examples of the intercuts between animation and live footage is during the swamp sequence where Calibos wrestles with Perseus."