“The gods of Greece are cruel. In time all men shall learn to do without them.”
Original Movie Title: Jason and the Argonauts
Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy/Historical
Fanedit type: Fan-fix
Original Release Date: 1963
Original Running Time: 104
Fanedit Release Date: February 2023
Fanedit Running Time: 65
Time Cut: 38
Time Added: 1
Available in HD? Yes
Subtitles? Yes
Brief Synopsis
Using my B+ Movie Edition as a foundation (including animation enhancements), this cut completely removes the Olympus scenes, as well as any explicit reference to the gods’ interference. This, alongside a few more liberal trims, allows for an action-focused cut for when you just want to blitz through the film, cut to the chase and enjoy a fast-paced adventure.
Intention
With my B+ Movie Editions, I have certain lines that I will not cross, since I try to achieve my goals without making drastic cuts to the narrative, rarely removing dialogue or cutting shots completely. In that sense, the B+ cut for Jason is a ‘purist’ version where I compromised on a lot of personal preference, chief of which was retaining the scenes with the gods. They serve a purpose, but I don’t think they’re very well executed and they slow down the action considerably. So this is ‘agnostic’ because I’m removing their explicit existence from the equation (feel free to draw your own conclusions as to why we still have mythological monsters) and ‘super’ because even more trims for pacing have been made, clocking the entire film in at barely over an hour – nearly 40 minutes shorter than the theatrical cut.
This is a significantly more liberal alternate version of my B+ movie Edition. I recommend that cut for purists, and a much more comprehensive cutlist can be found on its IFDB page for what is not mentioned here (bear in mind that the timecodes there will not be accurate for this edit).
Main Sources
Visual:
- Premium Collection blu-ray release
Audio:
- Some FX from Freesound.org
Special Thanks
- Extra special thanks to Boredat3am and Dwight Fry for volunteering to preview the initial version and for their feedback. And thank you again to Dwight Fry for their suggested alterations; the ending shot particularly has been significantly improved with the closing kiss retained.
- Dwight Fry for their suggestions for improving the comic book poster aesthetic. Thanks to DigModiFication as well for providing some pre-made elements for me to make use of.
- My friend Joebby for proofing the very final draft.
Cut-list
Cuts are made on top of the numerous changes made for my B+ edit. Broadly, the new changes are as follows:
– All cuts made (or not made) are on top of ones already made for the B+ Movie Edition (including animation enhancements). So please see the IFDB entry for that for further context
– Explicit interference from what appear to be gods is removed (Hera does speak to Pelias in the temple, for example, but we do not witness her vanish like a ghost; Jason can be seen from afar to be talking to the Hera statue, but we do not hear their exchange or anything that would imply she talks back). All shots of Hermes during Jason’s speech at Pelias’ camp are also cut and Jason does not interact with him at all. We do see Triton, but there is nothing that explicitly states who/what he is.
– Additional trims to opening prophecy
– Further trims to the attack on the temple
– Further trims to dance at Pelias’ camp
– Trimmed Jason and Pelias’ conversation
– Further trims to Jason’s conversation with the ship builder
– Further trims to ship travel montages
– Further trims to Talos
– Jason and Hercules conversation regarding Hylas is paced slightly differently
– Further trims to Harpies
– Further trims to clashing rocks segment
– Cut Medea’s dance (cool tango, sis. Needs more dragons though)
– Medea’s temple speech is trimmed and events are in a different order. She says Jason is here, the king tells him to come forward, then Jason makes his way out of the crowd.
– Trimmed prison break
– Hydra is more or less the same as in the B+ cut
– King Aeetes calls on his god to deliver him the children of the hydra, but we do not see fire fall from the sky and burn up the Hydra corpse
– The sowing of the Hydra’s teeth is recut slightly differently
– Skeleton scenes are the same as in the B+ cut
– General small trims here and there across the film to help maintain consistency with the pacing. Some shots cut, moved or swapped on occasion.
– New ending shot to cover absence of Olympus scene (thanks to Dwight Fry for a suggestion on how to retain the kiss)
The Scribbling Man 
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