The Seventh Voyage
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More on Dioskilos
"Some examples of what we removed from from the sequence included a scene in which the creature was to have bitten into a man's arm and Perseus cutting off one of the creature's heads even though it doesn't stop it."
Dioskilos
Creator: Ray Harryhausen
Film: Clash of the Titans 1981
*Click on the images to see a larger version*
This review was written by Marc Hartley (Delflord) for The Seventh Voyage.
Perseus and three of his men have arrived on the Isle of the Dead.
They
pass on through a dark passageway that leads them to a ruined temple.
Lurking in the shadows and watching
intensely are two sets of sly evil yellow tinged eyes glistening in the
darkness.Perseus approaches a statue that was once a human being and upon
touching the figure, it tumbles backwards on to the stone floor. As they
move on, out from his hiding place springs Dioskilos the
two-headed guardian of Medusas shrine.
The creature instantly knocks down to the ground, one of Perseus’ men,
Killing him in the act. Perseus fights the animal as the two remaining
guards rush to his aid. In the struggle
that ensues, Perseus loses his sword and tries to retrieve it but a snake
has begun to slither, coil and move
over
its length upon where it landed. In the meantime, the two soldiers fight
with Dioskilos constantly having to use their shields for protection from
those angry snarling powerful sets of jaws. One soldier is then forced to
the ground by the animal as Perseus having finally picked up his sword
rejoins the fight to save the soldiers life.
Perseus
lashes at Dioskilos and stabs the neck of one of its heads rendering the
creature a
lot of pain and anguish as it hangs and swings limp and lifeless.
Upon striking the animals other neck the hound finally falls from the temple
plinth. Perseus jumps down to where Dioskilos lay dying and delivers a fatal
blow from his sword that leaves the creature lifeless.
Miniature
Dioskilos has been recently been available as a
model kit it stands about 7" at 1/6 scale very costly and very rare $99.99.
Dioskilos Facts
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Mr. Harryhausen decided to go with two heads instead of three in his perception it would look too clumsy with three.
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To avoid the shifting in fur when the animator would touch the model to make its movements, he decided to grab the model from the back of it thus avoiding this problem which was seen in the original King Kong film.
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The Dioskilos model was about 7 inches high and 11 inches long and covered in exotic Siberian rabbit fur that was very prone to movement during animation.
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"Originally we wanted to keep the three heads, but although I struggled to sculpt a realistic model, it looked far too grotesque and top heavy and was therefore totally unbelievable."
"When originally conceived the Dioskilos sequence was intended to be longer
and more violent. It was cut down when we realized we had two key sequences
back-back, and the violence was scaled down so that it wouldn't alienate a
younger audience."