Helen of Troy 

The abduction of beautiful Helen, wife of Spartan King Menelaus, by Paris of Troy triggers a long war.

Stars:

Emilia Fox, James Callis, Daniel Lapaine

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Emilia Fox	...	Cassandra, Princess of Troy 2 episodes, 2003
James Callis	...	Menelaus / ... 2 episodes, 2003
Daniel Lapaine	...	Hector 2 episodes, 2003
Nigel Whitmey	...	Odysseus 2 episodes, 2003
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Theseus 2 episodes, 2003
Joe Montana	...	Achilles 2 episodes, 2003
Katie Blake	...	Clytemnestra 2 episodes, 2003
Craig Kelly	...	Pollux 2 episodes, 2003
Manuel Cauchi	...	Paris' Father 2 episodes, 2003
Kristina Paris	...	Iphigenia 2 episodes, 2003
Mat Fraser	...	Calchas 2 episodes, 2003
Maryam d'Abo	...	Queen Hecuba 2 episodes, 2003
Sienna Guillory	...	Helen 2 episodes, 2003
Matthew Marsden	...	Paris 2 episodes, 2003
John Rhys-Davies	...	King Priam of Troy 2 episodes, 2003
Rufus Sewell	...	Agamemnon 2 episodes, 2003

Storyline

The abduction of beautiful Helen, wife of Spartan King Menelaus, by Paris of Troy triggers a long war.

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Plot Keywords:

trojan war | siege | king | antiquity | tv mini series | 

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Taglines:

Desire is war.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance | War

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Details

Official Sites:

USA Networks

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 April 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Helen of Troy

Filming Locations:

Greece

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fuel Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

175 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Clytemnestra kills Agamemnon in the swimming pool, her modern style bra and underwear are clearly visible through her wet clothes. Such undergarments were not available during the time of Helen of Troy.

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Quotes

Theseus: Someday, some place, you'll find someone better, someone worthy. When you do, neither the gods will nor the earth's turning will keep you from him.
Helen: That's how I feel about you.
Theseus: Well, Helen, this is only a kind of practice. Someday you'll know the difference.

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Connections

Version of Helen of Troy (1956)

User Reviews

Horribly inaccurate

Rape of Mythology.

Helen of Troy was nothing short of rape of Homer's Iliad and other sources.

Cassandra was portrayed as having the gift of seeing the future as a child. According to the myths she got it from Apollo when she agreed to be his lover. However she later spurned him and so she was cursed that no one will believe her. So according to the writer, Apollo lusted after a five year old child :)

Helen walking nude was good viewing but has no truth. But then again, in the end all one will remember from this TV movie are shots of Sienna Guillory's perfect ass ...

The whole thing about Achilles is absolutely scandalous .. Despite his great strength Achilles actually wanted to avoid battle .. In fact he argued with Agamemnon over a slave girl and stopped fighting .. So the greeks started losing ground ... Here he is portrayed as a retarded warrior. An insult to the greatest Greek warrior since Hercules.

Then after much pleading Achilles sent Patroclus to fight for him in his armour ... The TV movie portrayed Achilles as a monster wearing no armour .. Another falsehood .. Achilles in fact had his new armour built by the god Hephaestus ...

There is no mention of Patroclus here ... And Paris is shown as a great fighter - He was not .. Troy actually relied solely on Hector's capabilities... Here Hector was not portrayed as the great hero he was...

Hector's defeat and slaying of Patroclus finally aroused Achilles' anger and he took his revenge over Hector in a fair fight (not like the one in the TV)... The TV confrontation of Achilles and Hector was sheer stupidity.

Achilles returned Hector's body .. something the writer of the TV movie forgot ...

Achilles was later killed by Paris's arrow which struck his heel but not like the way in showed on the movie ... And the whole myth of his vulnerable heel was left unexplained. Maybe the writer didnt know himself.

Whatever happened to the great Ajax ... his great battle with Hector .. and his subsequent suicide ..

Paris was killed by the famous archer Philoctetes who owned the bow and arrow of Hercules ... But obviously that was too complicated for this piece of TV crap.

In the movie they showed Clytemnestra in Troy - rubbish. She killed Agamemnon once he had returned. There is absolutely no truth that Agamemnon raped Helen as is shown ... The acting was all wooden .. wasting good actors in a ridiculous adaptation...

Hardly any part of the trojan war was touched upon .. And those parts touched were displayed with breathtaking lack of accuracy. Who do the director/writer think they are ? Homer? Virgil ?

Only if one is completely ignorant of Greek myths, one can tolerate this piece of nonsense. Rating it one out of ten is being generous.