WEBVTT

00:00:06.126 --> 00:00:08.686
Hercules, 
the strongest man alive

00:00:08.686 --> 00:00:10.906
with a mighty heart to match.

00:00:10.906 --> 00:00:14.646
Orpheus, 
charmer of nature and master of music.

00:00:14.646 --> 00:00:18.556
Castor and Pollux, 
the twin tricksters hatched from an egg.

00:00:18.556 --> 00:00:21.434
The Boreads, 
sons of the North Wind

00:00:21.434 --> 00:00:23.874
who could hurtle through the air.

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:23.874 --> 00:00:27.865
For untold times 
these heroes had roamed ancient Greece,

00:00:27.865 --> 00:00:30.415
creating new legends wherever they went.

00:00:30.425 --> 00:00:34.825
But none of their adventures 
was so great as when they joined forces

00:00:34.825 --> 00:00:38.055
for the sake of a young man named Jason.

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:38.055 --> 00:00:39.225
Years before,

00:00:39.225 --> 00:00:42.045
Jason’s uncle Pelias 
had ruthlessly usurped

00:00:42.045 --> 00:00:45.465
the throne of Thessaly 
from Jason’s grandfather.

00:00:45.465 --> 00:00:48.505
When Jason returned 
to his father’s stolen court,

00:00:48.505 --> 00:00:52.615
the cowardly king 
set him a seemingly impossible task:

00:00:52.615 --> 00:00:55.235
cross the teeming seas to Colchis,

00:00:55.235 --> 00:00:58.565
and steal 
the golden fleece of a flying ram

00:00:58.565 --> 00:01:00.905
under King Aeetes’ nose.

00:01:00.905 --> 00:01:03.151
If Jason retrieved the Fleece,

00:01:03.151 --> 00:01:06.421
Pelias promised to relinquish the throne.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:06.421 --> 00:01:08.201
Touched by his heroic mission,

00:01:08.201 --> 00:01:10.861
the Gods spread Jason’s call for help,

00:01:10.861 --> 00:01:14.501
and soon 
he had assembled a not-so-motley crew.

00:01:14.501 --> 00:01:15.521
These heroes,

00:01:15.521 --> 00:01:19.871
alongside countless sailors,
soothsayers, and rebel demigods,

00:01:19.871 --> 00:01:23.861
named themselves 
the Argonauts after their sturdy ship.

00:01:23.861 --> 00:01:27.861
But the path ahead 
was marked with untold terrors–

00:01:27.861 --> 00:01:31.651
enough to test even the fiercest heroes.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:31.651 --> 00:01:33.771
Their first stop was Lemnos,

00:01:33.771 --> 00:01:37.991
an isle of women 
who had killed all the island’s men.

00:01:37.991 --> 00:01:39.131
As punishment,

00:01:39.131 --> 00:01:42.341
Aphrodite had cursed them
with a sickening stench–

00:01:42.341 --> 00:01:46.312
but that didn’t stop Jason 
fathering twins with the queen.

00:01:46.312 --> 00:01:50.734
The rest of the crew also found themselves
embroiled in new romances;

00:01:50.734 --> 00:01:55.944
until Hercules chastised them 
for not behaving like heroes.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:55.944 --> 00:01:59.068
Eventually, 
they sailed on to the Mount of Bears,

00:01:59.068 --> 00:02:02.708
an island where a group of ancient, 
six-armed monsters

00:02:02.708 --> 00:02:06.088
lived alongside the peaceful Doliones.

00:02:06.088 --> 00:02:09.158
While the clan welcomed 
the Argonauts with open arms,

00:02:09.158 --> 00:02:12.188
the monsters surged down 
from the mountains

00:02:12.188 --> 00:02:15.658
and hurled rocks at the docked ship.

00:02:15.658 --> 00:02:18.148
Hercules held them off single-handedly,

00:02:18.148 --> 00:02:20.568
before his comrades joined the fray.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:20.568 --> 00:02:25.238
Bolstered by their victory, 
the triumphant heroes sailed onward–

00:02:25.238 --> 00:02:29.667
only to be blown back 
to the island several stormy nights later.

00:02:29.667 --> 00:02:30.679
In the tempest,

00:02:30.679 --> 00:02:34.429
the Doliones 
thought these new arrivals invaders.

00:02:34.429 --> 00:02:37.896
The Argonauts were similarly unaware 
of their surroundings,

00:02:37.896 --> 00:02:42.476
and fought blunderingly in the dark, 
slaying wave after wave of foe.

00:02:42.476 --> 00:02:45.927
But the morning light 
revealed a horrible truth:

00:02:45.927 --> 00:02:50.587
their victims 
were none other than their previous hosts.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:50.587 --> 00:02:51.344
Yet again,

00:02:51.344 --> 00:02:54.334
Jason had allowed the crew 
to be distracted,

00:02:54.334 --> 00:02:56.734
this time at a terrible cost.

00:02:56.734 --> 00:02:58.115
Ashamed at his conduct,

00:02:58.115 --> 00:03:01.145
he resolved 
to focus only on the Fleece,

00:03:01.145 --> 00:03:04.216
but even this haste proved ruinous.

00:03:04.216 --> 00:03:07.616
When Hercules’ squire 
was abducted by a water nymph,

00:03:07.616 --> 00:03:09.186
Jason sailed on–

00:03:09.186 --> 00:03:13.956
oblivious to the absence 
of his most powerful crewmate.

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:13.956 --> 00:03:16.687
The remaining Argonauts 
continued their quest,

00:03:16.687 --> 00:03:18.157
until stopping at the sight

00:03:18.157 --> 00:03:22.907
of an old man 
surrounded by a swirl of harpies.

00:03:22.907 --> 00:03:26.578
This was Phineas, 
a seer cursed by Zeus

00:03:26.578 --> 00:03:30.718
to endure 
old age, blindness, and endless torture

00:03:30.718 --> 00:03:33.500
for giving away 
his prophecies.

00:03:33.500 --> 00:03:37.178
Moved by his plight, 
the wind brothers set upon the flock,

00:03:37.178 --> 00:03:40.408
providing Phineas 
with a brief respite from his punishment.

00:03:40.408 --> 00:03:41.958
In return,

00:03:41.958 --> 00:03:47.068
the seer told them how to overcome
the terrifying trial that lay ahead:

00:03:47.068 --> 00:03:48.608
the Symplegades,

00:03:48.608 --> 00:03:53.438
a pair clashing rocks 
that reduced ships to splinters.

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:53.438 --> 00:03:54.342
But first,

00:03:54.342 --> 00:03:58.112
the Argonauts would have to maneuver 
past the mouth of hell,

00:03:58.112 --> 00:04:01.247
around the island 
of the bloodthirsty Amazons,

00:04:01.247 --> 00:04:04.087
and under psychedelic skies.

00:04:04.087 --> 00:04:07.847
These adventures cost the crew 
both in men and morale–

00:04:07.847 --> 00:04:11.497
and some feared 
they might be losing their minds.

00:04:11.497 --> 00:04:16.427
Upon reaching the clashing rocks, 
the exhausted crew quaked with fear.

00:04:16.427 --> 00:04:19.508
But Phineas’ advice rang in their heads.

00:04:19.508 --> 00:04:21.948
The Argonauts released a single dove

00:04:21.948 --> 00:04:26.098
and sped through in its wake 
to emerge unscathed.

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:26.098 --> 00:04:27.795
With this narrow escape,

00:04:27.795 --> 00:04:31.505
the Argonauts 
finally had Colchis in their sights.

00:04:31.505 --> 00:04:34.943
Yet while Jason rested 
and celebrated with his crew,

00:04:34.943 --> 00:04:38.773
he could feel his time 
among them was drawing to a close.

00:04:38.773 --> 00:04:40.853
As the fleece gleamed in his mind,

00:04:40.853 --> 00:04:43.803
he knew 
he would have to retrieve it alone.

00:04:43.803 --> 00:04:46.976
But he could not guess 
that this final task

00:04:46.976 --> 00:04:50.046
would have the most horrible price of all.