Series premiere! This week we leave The Shire behind to embark on our journey through Middle Earth and the epic fantasy genre!

In the spirit of Lord of the Rings, we’ve divided our miniseries into three parts, and we’re starting today with Part 1: The Road to Mordor. And that road begins with, you guessed it, Ray Harryhausen!

Peter Jackson’s trilogy would not exist without the sword-and-sandals stop-motion action of Harryhausen – so as we voyage towards Mordor, we must first trek the scorching sands of Ancient Greece, where harpies fly, gigantic statues terrorize, and gods try to kill us out of boredom! Oh, and spooky skeletons.

Next week, we spend some time with a different type kind of Hobbit in Rankin and Bass’s animated THE HOBBIT. Join the conversation on our Discord at https://discord.com/invite/RssDc3brsx and get more Eye of the Duck on our Patreon show, After Hours https://www.patreon.com/EyeoftheDuckPod

References:

• Special Features
  • Peter Jackson Commentary Track
• Peter Jackson on Ray Harryhausen
• Art UK Production History
• Ray Harryhausen/Bruce Eder Commentary Track 1992 Criterion Release
• Ray Harryhausen Talks Animating Skeletons
• Ray Harryhausen UK LaserDisc Interview
• Ray Harryhausen on Jerky Metal
• Bruce Eder on Jason and the Argonauts
• The New York Times Ray Harryhausen Feature
• Infinity Magazine Issue 41 Production History

Credits:

Eye of the Duck is created, hosted, and produced by Dom Nero and Adam Volerich.

This episode was edited by Michael Gaspari.

This episode was researched by Parth Marathe.

Our logo was designed by Francesca Volerich. You can purchase her work at francescavolerich.com/shop

The "Adam's Blu-Ray Corner" theme was produced by Chase Sterling.

Assistant programming and digital production by Nik Long.

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Learn more at eyeoftheduckpod.com