ALL SCI-FI

[Gord Green]

[Bud Brewster]

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Shiver me timbers, Cap'm Gordon!

Ya solved that Mystery of the Sea quicker than ya can say, "Does Davy Jones remember the combination to his locker!"

I do admire a thinkin' man, matey — and by Neptune, you be one of those, or my name ain't Nine-Toes Brewster!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Watched 7th Voyage tonight for new Year's Eve and a couple of thoughts about this splendid movie occurred to me.

The sailors keep complaining about starving during their second return to Colassa. Why? Didn't they lay in enough supplies for their journey?

Wonder what the Cyclops does with all the valuable treasures he collects and places in his cave? Not like he's got anywhere on the island to spend it. Not like he's going to travel to the mainland---if even could do so---to spend it there.

Wonder what, and how much, food Sokurah feeds his gigantic dragon, Taro? How does he get it to Taro? What about water? Didn't see any streams in the cave for Taro to drink from at all. And then there's the poop issues!

So Sinbad has the lamp and knows how to summon the genie Baroni. Yet he never once uses it when he goes to confront Sokurah in his cave fortress in order to confront the evil magician.

Sokurah orders Sinbad to put the miniature Princess Parisa into a large coffin-like box in order to restore her to her normal size. As part of the process the sorcerer places a large bowl with the contents of the ingredients inside the box that will restore the princess and closes the lid. When he opens the lid to the box we see that she is indeed fully restored. No bowl is in sight, what happened to it?

A natural rock bridge in the cave collapses and halts Sinbad & Parisa's escape. They summon the genie and he provides them with a thick rope to swing over the lava pit below.

A rope? Really, that's the best this awesome powered genie can conjure up?

If the bridge is now gone just how did Sokurah get out of his cave since he was behind Sinbad & Parisa? Was there another exit? Did he use magic?

Sojurah commands Taro to follow him and chase Sinbad and his crew and kill 'em all.

The crew has assembled a giant crossbow at the outside entrance to the interior of the island. Once Taro shows up they fire the arrow killing the dragon.

How come Sokurah didn't see this coming? He was the onE who conceived of the crossbow in the first place. When they first landed on Colossa he saw that Sinbad gave his sailors the orders to assemble it & have it ready.

Sokurah should have known he was leading Taro into a potential trap.

Wow! Baroni presents Sinbad & Princess Parisa with the entire fortune of the Cyclops' enormous treasure as a wedding gift. In return, Baroni is now human and a cabin boy for Sinbad! Geez, kid, this was the best possible plan that you could come with?

All kidding aside, this is one of Ray's finest and most entertaining movies.

[Gord Green]

[Gord Green]

[Bud Brewster]

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Great post, Pow! I'd never thought of any of those questionable things about this beloved movie.

And Gord did a fine job of providing plausible answers to your observations — including the suggestion that the bowl of ingredients in the closed "coffin" with the princess was magically assimilated by her. I like that better than picturing the poor girl being revealed with a huge bulge in tummy, and Sokurah exclaiming, " . . . Oops!"

I'll confess that I loved Gprd's colorful way of describing Baroni's life as a mortal, serving as Sinbad's cabin boy, sailing the seas with the greatest adventurer of all time!

If Harryhausen and Schneer had done a Sinbad sequel (instead of that dull The 3 Worlds of Gulliver ), Richard Eyer would have been 15 in 1960 and he could play Sinbad's young sidekick on a new adventure!

By the way, IMDB says this about Mr. Eyer. "Eyer now lives in a small town East of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains and teaches elementary school."

I wonder if he shows The 7th Voyage of Sinbad to his classes every year, the way I showed Robinson Crusoe on Mars to my 5th graders for five years in a row!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

British Board of Film Censors:

Reel #1 : Close-ups of snake-tail woman being strangled by her own tail.

Reel #3 : Cyclops close up shots as he gloats over sailor tied to spit that the monster is roasting.

Remove close shot of Cyclops face as it peers into cave just before being blinded.

The philosophy of the BBFC was that children under 16 are impressionable and emotionally fragile. The censors job was to protect them from nightmarish images which could warp development.

Seventh Voyage was given an X Certificate that meant no one under 16 would be admitted to the film.

In 1975 in Britain the public could finally see the uncut version of Seventh Voyage.

[Pow]

Almost a decade after this film's release, a young fan sent Ray Harryhausen a homemade mask of the cyclops. Ray was so impressed he wrote back an encouraging letter, convincing the mask maker to take it up professionally. The fan in question, seventeen-year-old Rick Baker, went on to create special effects for the 1998 remake of Mighty Joe.

~ Young. Harryhausen: The Lost Movies.

Sidebar: What a wonderful story regarding Ray's kindness. Many aspiring people write letters to their idols, and many do not ever receive a reply. Ray came through, and he recognized Rick's immense talent at such a young age. Rick is another fantastic artist that I've greatly admired throughout his awesome career. When you know Rick is associated with a production, you can know it will be nothing short of superb.

[Bud Brewster]

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What a great story, Mike! Thanks for sharing it with us.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)