Monster master
Science museum opens exhibit exploring legacy of animation pioneer
Science Museum Oklahoma is ready to unleash the Kraken.
And the iconic sea monster isn’t the only cinematic creature that’s invaded the museum’s smART Space art galleries: The Pegasus and Gryphon are spreading their wings, the Hydra and Medusa are all coiled up, and the skeleton warriors have their swords raised and ready. Even a mechanical owl named Bubo looks all shined up for the debut of the epic exhibit “Ray Harryhausen — Mythical Menagerie.”
“We’ve been working on it for about a year and a half now, and it’s finally here,” smART Space Director Scott Henderson said. “He was the grandfather of all special effects and stopmotion animation in cinema. … I remember these movies as a child and how special they were to me.”
Science Museum Oklahoma is the exclusive venue for “Mythical Menagerie,” a comprehensive exhibition of nearly 150 original models, prototypes, bronzes, sketches and storyboards from five famed fantasy films by the stopmotion animation pioneer.
“This is what led to all or most of the fantasy directors’ backgrounds: George Lucas, James Cameron, (Steven) Spielberg, Peter Jackson for sure. They all credit Harryhausen as their major, No. 1 influence on why they do what they do,” Henderson said.
Henderson developed “Mythical Menagerie” in partnership with the Scotland-based Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation, and it is the first U.S. exhibition of Harryhausen’s work since his death in 2013 at the age of 92.
“I think the exhibit’s outstanding, and I think it’s really incredible that this is something that you can only see in Oklahoma City. It’s not a traveling exhibit; it’s not something that’s going to another city next. … And it’s neverbefore-seen. And that’s really incredible,” said Lindsay Thomas, Science Museum Oklahoma communications director.
Fantastical filmmaking
Henderson was researching an idea for an exhibit of science fiction movie posters and art when he came across The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation website. “Certain memories sparked in me,” he said. “My dad liked these movies, so I’d go to the movie store and I’d rent ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ or ‘Clash of the Titans.’ “
Henderson reached out to the foundation to explore the possibility of putting together an exhibit, and he was thrilled when its collections manager, Connor Heaney, contacted him
with news that the trustees were excited to work with Science Museum Oklahoma. “The collection held at The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation is not just artifacts of historical and cinematic importance, but is also a window into the science of photochemical filmmaking,” John Walsh, filmmaker and Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation trustee, said in a statement.
Although the special effects trailblazer’s collection includes more than 50,000 objects gathered during his long career, Henderson opted to focus the Oklahoma exhibit on five of Harryhausen’s fantasy films: “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (1958), “Jason and the Argonauts” (1963), “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad” (1973), “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger” (1977) and his last film, “Clash of the Titans” (1981).
The signature stopmotion animation process Harryhausen created to make his miniature creatures appear life-size on the
silver screen was dubbed Dynamation during the making of “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,” which features a fight scene between Sinbad and a skeleton, as well as a heated battle between a towering Cyclops and a fire-breathing dragon.
“Nothing had been seen like that, especially in color. ... This was the first time animation like this had been done in color, and it was a big deal,” Henderson said, watching “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” trailer playing on a loop in the exhibit.
Cinematic innovations
The “Mythical Menagerie” includes several original models Harryhausen handcrafted, manipulated and filmed for his stop-motion animation sequences. “It’s about how he was an innovator in his field and how he led to the technology of CGI today. The animation all comes from this hands-on work that Harryhausen did,” Henderson said.
The exhibition includes instantly recognizable cinematic artifacts like the Cyclops armature from “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad”; the skeleton warriors and Hydra from “Jason and the Argonauts”; the giant walrus from “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger”; the Gryphon and the Centaur from “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad”; and the Kraken, Medusa, Bubo the Owl, Pegasus and the monstrous Calibos from “Clash of the Titans.”
Harryhausen’s groundbreaking work continues to influence filmmakers and enthrall audiences. George Lucas has been quoted as saying, “Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no ‘Star Wars.’ “The bones of the iconic skeleton battle from “Jason and the Argonauts” can be seen in Gore Verbinski’s “The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” Sam Raimi’s “Army of Darkness” and Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride.”
And the art of stopmotion animation continues to endure through Britain’s Aardman Animations’ titles like “Chicken Run,” “Shaun the Sheep” and the Academy Award- winning feature “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” and America’s Laika Entertainment’s movies “Coraline,” “The Boxtrolls” and last year’s two-time Oscar nominee “Kubo and the Two Strings.”
The Oklahoma exhibit is part of the Harryhausen Foundation’s #Harryhausen100, a multiyear worldwide series of exhibits, film screenings and events leading up to the 100th anniversary Harryhausen’s birth on June 20, 2020. “Kids are still fascinated. My daughter, I showed her all these, and she loved them all. She even got scared by a few of them, but she found them really fun and fascinating,” said Henderson, who has a 10-year-old named Lilli. “I hope a lot of people get a sense of nostalgia and appreciation for him as a person and an artist and for what he did for cinematic history. For the children, I hope they get a sense of awe and want to go see these movies and see how he was an influence on what they love today — and maybe they’ll go out and make their own films.”