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Mar 9, 2021
Alexander the Great “Pilot” (part 7 of 7)
Cut to Memnon gathering his army. He yells, “Set the point!”, a cry that’s picked up by his soldiers as it echoes around the group. And if you’re one of the few still paying attention by this point, you may notice an obvious change in film stock for shots of the Persian army. As I would later learn thanks to the Film Crew, all of the battle footage in this pilot is recycled from the 1959 Steve Reeves film The Giant of Marathon. Which, let’s face it, was not exactly the most extravagant production in film history to begin with. I mean, if you’re just recycling footage, why not go for something impressive?
As Memnon prepares to give the order to charge, there’s a pretty cheap effect (taken straight from Giant of Marathon) that tries to make it look like they hired twice as many extras. We see the Persians standing on a hilltop, and then there’s a few frames of a “whipping camera” effect, and suddenly we see the exact same extras, only standing in different positions on a different hill. What’s lamer, this “special” effect, or the fact that somebody actually reused it?
Memnon yells, “Charge!” and then there’s more recycled footage, this time of Smurfheads blowing their horns. Hilariously, the footage has actually been overdubbed with the Alexander the Great theme song, most likely because that was the only piece of music they could afford. Which gives the unfortunate impression that the Persian soldiers are actually playing their enemy’s theme song. This does not bode well for Memnon.
”To make the battle fly by, here’s something from the Chuck Mangione songbook!”
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