At what point does an adaptation become a Ship Of Theseus? How much can you alter before it becomes a bad adaptation, and then becomes an homage, and at what point it is “(X) in name only) and should have been it’s own thing? Using a Greek ship as an example comes into play since, as this article goes live, Christopher Nolan’s questionable adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey just hit theaters. Reviews as a movie as mixed, but so much is wrong as an adaptation that I don’t care. Adding characters from alternate sources, using “time period accuracy” to explain why there’s no orchestral score and removing gods and monsters, yet getting races and armor wrong while using modern terms and slang and using rap music, which has been along even less time than orchestras, in their soundtrack. I just wish I knew who Nolan is trolling: the audience, the historians, or the entire country of Greece, who isn’t happy at this cultural mythology appropriation, especially given letting Nolan shoot there.
At this point Ulysses 31, a sci-fi animated series that was a co-production of DIC Entertainment and TMS Entertainment, better treats the source material by being an homage, right down to the series starting with Ulysses and his ship, the Odyssey, leaving the colony of Troy trying to return to Earth. This time Telemachus is with him while Persephone is still back home probably dodging suitors. There’s a new reason for killing the cyclops, making the gods even bigger jerks than usual. The intro, which I’ve reviewed separately in the past, gives too much away when used in the first episode, but the details are still worth watching if only to set up this sci-fi retelling of Homer’s work, much like Sherlock Holmes In The 22nd Century would do for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective.
Yep, in this episode it’s Telemachus’ birthday and he gets a new robot, No-No. He also gets captured by cultists looking to sacrifice him along with two aliens so the kid has a friend and she has motivation to stay with them when her brother suffers the fate of the crew. The dubbing is pretty good, but the theme song rocks. See how many other references you pick up on. Enjoy!
I originally got to watch this show on a syndicated (explains why death was allowed from this English kids show dub of a French/Japanese co-production) programming block called Kideo TV. I hear the show had an ending, but here in the US we never got to see it due to the show only lasting one season.
Bonus video: The Japanese Theme
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