# Jason and the Argonauts (miniseries)

Jason and the Argonauts (also known as Jason and the Golden Fleece) is a 2000 TV movie, very loosely based on the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts.
    Directed by Nick Willing. Written by Matthew Faulk and Mark Skeet. Produced by Hallmark Entertainment.

## Orpheus

* Perhaps to love what can not be yours is a wound that only death may heal.
* If we turn away from life, we do not honor the dead. We fail them.

## Mopsus

* Forget your own troubles, and remember you're the son of a King, and damn well do your duty!

## Hercules

* I'm Hercules. This boat's going to find the Golden Fleece, and I'm going with it. Are you heroes, or are you cowards?

## Medea

* Please remove your tunic, the oil must cover every inch of you.

## Polymele

* jason, my dear son, I speak as a shade, who by the mercy of the gods, may call to you from the Underworld. Jason, you are not at the end of your journey, but at its beginning. This path is a path which you choose. Go well, my darling. Go with your mother's love, and fulfill your destiny.

## Dialogue

    King Aeson: I should have known it would come to this.
    Pelias: I am only here to claim what's mine.
    King Aeson: Your claim is false. I would sooner die than see my kingdom in your hands. Kill me, but in the name of your honor, spare my wife and child.
    Pelias: Oh brother, brother, brother. What do you take me for, a savage? Let me show you how gracious I may be in victory. All I seek is my destiny... [embraces his brother, but takes out a hidden dagger and stabs him during the embrace]
    Polymele: No!
    Pelias: ...and my destiny is to rule.
    Jason: I had that dream again. The gods torment me with it and I don't know why.
    Chiron: It's not only a dream, Jason. It's a memory.
    Old Peasant Woman (Hera): [while being carried across the river by Jason] What do you seek in Iolcus? Not riches I hope.
    Jason: No.
    Old Peasant Woman: Just as well. It's a poor country, bled dry by its king.
    Jason: Pelias.
    Old Peasant Woman: Pelias the taxer, they call him. Of course searching for the Golden Fleece is an expensive business.
    Jason: The Golden Fleece?
    Old Peasant Woman: The greatest gift from gods to Man, craved by Pelias beyond all reason. He believes it will grant him his heart's desire... Your charity will not be forgotten. [disappears]
    Argos: The sea is pitiless. It can only be conquered by men of skill and experience. Without that you invite death. I'll not sail with such a crew.
    Jason: You've been ordered by Pelias, on pain of death.
    Argos: That means my death shall be quick.
    Zeus: You demean yourself. This boy would sooner sleep with a whore than honor you.
    Hera: Judge him not by your own base principles.
    Phineus: I am a sorcerer, my gift is great. I know what you're seeking, young man.
    Jason: Then you can help us?
    Phineus: I've been 40 years on this island, exiled by the gods. In their jealousy of my gift, they ripped out my eyes, and for good measure they placed me here, to be tormented by hunger and harpies.
    Jason: Harpies?
    Phineus: Monsters. They are part of my torment. The other part is hunger, perpetual hunger... a table groaning with food everyday, but to touch it is death.
    Jason: Can you show us the way to the Golden Fleece?
    Phineus: I will point you in the right direction, for the price of a small favor. (an apple.)
    Jason: Hercules!
    Hercules: Go now!
    Jason: Not without you!
    Hercules: I will follow!
    Jason: Come, I will help you.
    Hercules: That is not my destiny!
    Jason: Not even you can take on an army.
    Hercules: Jason, my journey is done, this is what my mother demands.
    Jason: Mother?
    Hercules: I am Hercules, servant of Hera, commanded by her to protect you. Go Jason, my dear friend, and find your destiny.
    Atalanta: Jason?
    Jason: Yes?
    Atalanta: We've been friends a long time, haven't we?
    Jason: The best of friends.
    Atalanta: I have to ask you something.
    Jason: Anything.
    Atalanta: Jason, I know you and I love you better than anyone on this earth.
    Jason: And I you.
    Atalanta: You do?
    Jason: Of course.
    Atalanta: Thank the gods, I didn't think you felt the same way!
    Jason: How could you think such a thing?
    Atalanta: I thought you and Medea...
    Jason: Medea and I are to be married, but you will always be as dear to me as a brother.
    Atalanta: Yes–yes, of course... You really love her.
    Jason: It's meant to be.
    Zeus: I shall be gentle with you.
    Medea: Who are you?
    Zeus: Your slave. One who admires you from afar and cannot find, even in heaven, more majesty than I see before me.
    Medea: You are a God?
    Zeus: Indeed, I am the King of Gods, and yet I am your slave. Medea–Medea–Medea–Medea–Medea–Medea–Medea–Medea, love me!
    Medea: Great Zeus, I love another. Jason.
    Zeus: [removes Eros' arrow from Medea] A boy? I am Zeus! I am the inevitable. I am the irresistible. I am the King who never dies, and you should be my Queen.
    Medea: What do you want from me?
    Zeus: Lie with me.
    Medea: No, I cannot. Not only my body, but my immortal soul belongs to him that I love. There is no power stronger.
    Zeus: You would deny me for the boy?! I give you time to reconsider, before your beauty fades.
    Jason: Idas, it is good to see you.
    Idas: Oh, it's–it's a miracle. We thought you were lost, or dead!
    Jason: Idas, I must ask, do not spread news of our arrival. My mother's safety is still my main concern.
    Idas: Your mother? Oh, by the gods, you do not know.
    Jason: Know what?
    Idas: Sir, I must tell you, your mother the queen is no more.
    Jason: What?
    Idas: She is dead, sir.
    Jason: How?
    Idas: She took her life, in the false knowledge of your death and that of your brother.
    Mopsus: If we fear treachery from Pelias, we could still move against him under cover of darkness.
    Jason: And waste some more lives in this vain enterprise?
    Mopsus: What then is your intention?
    Jason: My intention, brother, is to drink. To drink to all of those who should be drinking with us– to Echion, to Laertes, the bold tumbler, to Tiphys, Budes, Phanos, and to Hercules, the mighty and magnificent.
    Mopsus: But sir, they will not have died in vain if you meet your destiny. You are, sir, still the rightful King of Iolcus. You may still rescue it from tyranny, and avenge your father's and your mother's lives.
    Jason: To what end? Come first light, we leave this place.
    Mopsus: Sir, I must tell you, I know of a way to the palace itself. It should give us the weapon of surprise.
    Jason: Tell me.
    Mopsus: There's a tunnel, passage into the temple. The entrance lies deep in the forest, but I believe I could find it again. It was kind to us once before, when I was captain of the palace guard, captain of your father's guard, Jason. It was I who took you from the temple and delivered you to Chiron.
    Jason: Of course, the soldier! I owe you my life.
    Mopsus: No sir, you owe me nothing. Just as I failed to keep your father from danger, so I failed you today.
    Jason: Tell me of this tunnel.
    Mopsus: The entrance lies outside the city. It is opened only by a key, the key contained in the amulet that your mother gave you.
    Jason: I lost the amulet, I lost it in Lemnos.
    Mopsus: Without the key it would be impossible.
    Jason: Is there no other way?
    Mopsus: No.
    Actor: We can use the key. I found it, see– in Lemnos. Always thought it was a good piece... Worth something.
    Jason: Worth a kingdom, I should say.
    Actor: I swear by the gods, that's the last thing I shall ever steal.
    Jason: I see you wear the fleece, uncle. Has it brought you your heart's desire? Has its power revived you?
    Pelias: [in fear] Do I look like an immortal?
    Jason: The fleece has no power, except that imagined by those who seek it. We make our own destiny, by our own actions.
    Pelias: This is trickery.
    Jason: The only trickery lies within your imagination. How many have died so that you may gain the fleece? And what has it brought you? My sword at your throat, and your people baying for your blood.
    Pelias: You will kill me.
    Jason: I am sickened by bloodshed, and moved to mercy. [sheathes his sword]
    Pelias: [relieved] May you never know the disappointment of old age. How my mind has been made mad by this fleece, my son is dead, my kingdom is lost! [drops his sword] Take the fleece, and do with it what you will. Take it with my blessing. But have mercy on me... [embraces Jason] before you meet your [pulls out a hidden dagger and attempts to stab Jason] desti–
    Jason: [seizes the dagger, rotates it, and stabs Pelias] My destiny... is to rule!

## Cast

* Jason London as Jason
* Frank Langella as King Aeëtes
* Natasha Henstridge as Hypsipyle
* Derek Jacobi as Phineus
* Olivia Williams as Hera
* Angus Macfadyen as Zeus
* Dennis Hopper as Pelias
* Jolene Blalock as Medea
* Brian Thompson as Hercules
* Adrian Lester as Orpheus
* Ciarán Hinds as King Aeson
* Diana Kent as Polymele
* David Calder as Argos
* Mark Lewis Jones as Mopsus
* James Callis as Aspyrtes
* Hugh Quarshie as Chiron
* Olga Sosnovska as Atalanta
* Kieran O'Brien as Actor
* John Bennett as Idas

## External links

* Jason and the Argonauts at the Internet Movie Database