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17th May '13 10:51:20 AM Rethkir

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[[redirect:Creator/RayHarryhausen]]
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ray_harryhausen_8968.jpg]]

'''Ray Harryhausen''' (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was a visual effects pioneer and a genius in his field. Inspired by ''Film/KingKong'', he became THE StopMotion animator and worked on such classics as ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'', ''Film/ClashOfTheTitans'', three ''Sinbad'' films (''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad'' , ''Film/TheGoldenVoyageOfSinbad'' and ''Film/SinbadAndTheEyeOfTheTiger''), as well as some of the most notable dinosaur films of the pre-''Film/JurassicPark'' era. Most of the settings in these films were made using matte painting.

These movies would often be more showcases for Harryhausen's talent than anything else, but they had several similarities:

* Fantastic plots: ''Jason'' and ''Clash'' were both adapted from GreekMythology, the ''Sinbad'' movies came from [[ArabianNightsDays Arabian myths]] (with an ''[[Literature/TheOdyssey Odyssey]]'' feeling nonetheless), and ''One Million Years BC'' was set in a [[SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying prehistorical world with humans ... and dinosaurs]].
* Hammy acting.
* Famous actors playing small roles: [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Sir Laurence Olivier]] and Maggie Smith were both in ''Clash of the Titans''. Why? MoneyDearBoy.
* [[MsFanservice Gorgeous actresses]]: Raquel Welch in ''One Million Years B.C.'', Caroline Munro in ''The Golden Voyage of Sinbad'', Jane Seymour and Taryn Power in ''Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger''...

!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Several of his classic films have been given Comic Book sequels, or adaptations, which retain this trope by including his original sketches as an extra.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Literature/TheLostWorld'' (1925) - Special effects by Willis O'Brien, the TropeMaker.
* ''Film/KingKong'' - The film that inspired Harryhausen, and the first TropeCodifier.
* ''Film/MightyJoeYoung'' - Harryhausen's first Hollywood gig, spiritual sequel to ''Film/KingKong''. The effects were a collaboration between O'Brien and Harryhausen.
* ''[[Film/TheBeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms]]'' - While not the first [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever monster to attack a city]], it was the first monster to be [[ILoveNuclearPower created by The Bomb]]. [[InNameOnly Very loosely based]] on the short story of the same name by Harryhausen's friend and fellow guy-named-Ray, RayBradbury. Because of the movie's success and only vague connection to the story, Bradbury renamed his work "The Fog Horn" to differentiate the two.
* ''It Came From Beneath The Sea'' - [[EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods Giant Octopus attacks San Francisco]]. Notably, the City Fathers didn't want to have their newly built [[MonumentalDamage Golden Gate Bridge]] destroyed in the film for fear it would show the bridge being a weak structure. The producers filmed guerrilla-style and put it in anyway. The octopus only has six tentacles, to save on animation time.
* ''The Animal World'' - Started as a Documentary about life, but the StopMotion [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs dinosaurs]] stole the show. It also reunited Harryhausen with his idol Willis O'Brien.
* ''Film/EarthVsTheFlyingSaucers'' - AlienInvasion done with little subtlety. Some of the most iconic MonumentalDamage occurs in this movie when Washington is attacked, including a saucer crashing into the Washington monument and knocking it onto people as well as a Saucer destroying the dome of the Capital Building.
** Footage from this movie later showed up in several [[BMovie rather less well done SF films]] like ''Film/TheGiantClaw'' and ''[[Film/TheThreeStooges The Three Stooges in Orbit]]''. It also showed up in the classic ''[[Series/TheTwilightZone Twilight Zone]]'' story "To Serve Man".
* ''[[Film/TwentyMillionMilesToEarth Twenty Million Miles to Earth]]'' - Please stop harassing the Ymir.
* ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad'' - His first full-length color film, and TropeCodifier for Harryhausen, introducing one of his most iconic creatures : the [[DemBones living skeleton]].
* ''The Three Worlds Of Gulliver'' - An adaptation of ''Literature/GulliversTravels''.
* ''Mysterious Island'' - Sequel to ''20,000 Leagues Under the Sea''. [[ExecutiveMeddling Charles Shneer]] threw in [[AttackOfThe50footWhatever various giant animals]] to give Harryhausen something more to do. TropesAreNotBad strikes again!
* ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'' - Harryhausen's first world-recognized CrowningMomentOfAwesome occurs with a bronze giant and a battle with 7 skeletons. It took him several days to film one second of film--and he got the scene done in a single take! Also one of the [[TropeCodifier Trope Codifiers]] and most iconic of Harryhausen's films.
* ''Film/TheFirstMenInTheMoon'' - Victorians InSpace meet [[BeePeople Ant People]] on the moon.
* ''Film/TheValleyOfGwangi'' - [[TheWestern Cowboys]] [[CoolVsAwesome versus]] [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs Dinosaurs]], noted for the epic scene where the cowboys [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome rope the eponymous Allosaurs]].
* ''One Million Years BC'' - Often noted more for Raquel Welch in a FurBikini than for Ray's special effects. But they're very good effects. Supposedly, the archelon model had a lot of critics complaining that Harryhausen used [[{{Slurpasaur}} a real turtle]].
* ''Film/TheGoldenVoyageOfSinbad'' - Epic scenes include a statue of Kali swordfighting Sinbad with all ''six arms'' and a [[OurCentaursAreDifferent centaur]]-{{cyclops}}. Also notable for being the film that brought TomBaker (who played the evil magician Koura) to the attention of the producers of ''Series/DoctorWho''.
* ''Film/SinbadAndTheEyeOfTheTiger'' - Sinbad goes to a LostWorld and battles a giant saber toothed cat.
* ''Film/ClashOfTheTitans'' - Ray's final feature, featuring his last CrowningMomentOfAwesome in the Medusa battle done by flickering firelight. The complexity of that scene wows FX artists to this day.
* Though it wasn't done by Harryhausen, [[Franchise/EvilDead Army of Darkness]] features a very Harryhausen inspired battle sequence.
* While it mostly uses the traditional PeopleInRubberSuits that comes standard with ''[[{{Toku}} Tokusatsu]]'', ''KamenRiderZO'' features a stop motion fight with a giant spider monster that is rather Harryhausen-esque.
* ''Sinbad: The 5th Voyage'' is an upcoming GenreThrowback to the aforementioned Harryhausen ''Sinbad'' movies, going as far as using actual stop motion animation(albeit far more technologically advanced) for the creatures.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Many of his effects were reused in famous television series--most notably ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' reusing his Flying Saucers in ''To Serve Man.''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' series deserves a mention, as the series draws a lot of inspiration from Harryhausen's movies, namelt the GreekMythology inspired ones. In particular, the second game includes several shout outs, including fighting skeletons while following {{Jason|AndTheArgonauts}}.
* The {{Cyclops}} in the PlayStation game for ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' was quite obviously modeled on the ones from ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad'' complete with a horn on its forehead and (if you use the camera to see its lower body) satyr-like legs.
* Several ''[[VideoGame/KillerInstinct Killer Instinct 2]]'' characters pay homage to Harryhausen's movies, notably Spinal and Eyedoll.
* AgeOfMythology has several Greek myth units based directly on Harryhausen's version of them - Cyclops and Medusa, for example.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Harryhausen's first gig was making shorts for the Army. Infamously, the short ''How To Build a Bridge'' had no visuals of soldiers putting the bridge together, and the superiors worried that the soldiers would think the bridges ''[[ViewersAreMorons would build themselves!]]''
* Harryhausen also did several fairy tale adaptations, but few are of note, as they were fully animated Gumby-style shorts.
* He had an upscale restaurant named after him in {{Pixar}}'s WesternAnimation/MonstersInc. A very fitting ShoutOut.
** Speaking of Shout Outs, two stop-motion films that came out in the same year had the exact same nod to the man: both ''WesternAnimation/TheCurseOfTheWereRabbit'' and ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'' had a "Harryhausen" piano in there.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/SwatKats'', ''Bride of the Pastmaster'', had two of its three {{Cyclops}} adorned with horns on their foreheads like the ones in ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad''.
[[/folder]]
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17th May '13 10:38:29 AM Rethkir

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13th May '13 7:42:26 PM Shhalahr

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13th May '13 4:49:31 AM Deusirae76

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