Studio Soyuzmultfilm
The Return from Olympus
written by Alexey Simukov directed by Aleksandra Snezhko-Blotskaya
art director Aleksander Trusov music Vitaliy Geviksman
camera Boris Kotov sound Boris Filchikov script editor Arcadiy Snesarev
assistants Ye, Novoselskaya, Z. Kredushinskaya, M. Popova Editor N. Mayorova
animators B. Butakov, Yu. Butyrin, Yelizaveta Komova, Leonid Kayukov, Viktor Shevkov, Nikolay Fyodorov, V. Dolgikh, Oleg Safronov
artists Ye. Tannenberg, Alla Goreva, Irina Svetlitsa, V. Maksimovich
voices Mihail Novohizhin, M. Vasilyev, A. Konsovskiy, A. Gribov, M. Pogorzhelskoy, Natalya Kustinskaya, Erast Garin, S. Zaykova
production diretor Lubov Butyrina
''Zeus''...................''Hera''
''Apollo''
''Poseidon''
''Ares''......................''Aphrodite''
''Athena''....................''Heracles''
Let me visit the earth, O father of the Gods.
I am bored here.
O my son, why do you want to visit the earth?
I want to recall how it was to be human.
Heracles, you are ranked among Gods
Your place is here on Olympus
Just for a very short time
I would like to feel the earth under my feet.
Knead the stem of roadside grass.
Plebeian habits!
Until the sunrise!
You are always ready to concede to the son of this bony Alcmene.
I have long suspected that.
Bless you!
Do you see? They remember. They haven't forgotten.
Like the real thing. Nothing to nitpick, looks like a god!
Look.
My labours,
all twelve.
Good job by the artists!
Very realistic!
Eurystheus, my relative.
Oh, how worthless you were!
How many years was I overstraining myself for you?
The Gods' will. - What is this?
I didn't kneel!
What have you done?
You crossed out your best labour.
This didn't happen!
You are saying it didn't happen. Remember!
The golden apples from the magical garden of the Hesperides
They lived far away and nobody knew the way to them.
Hey, nymphs!!
Little nymphs!
What is the way to the magical garden of the Hesperides?
Next to the wide, blue ocean
Deceptive like a snake,
From Old has lived Nereus,
The Old Man of the Sea.
He'll help, but there's a secret -
One thing that you must do:
Hold tight and don't let go Until he answers you.
You think this is public street? Why don't you let me rest?
You should have told me that you won't be frightened
Oh, you've exhausted me.
Do you think it's easy in my age?
What do you need from me?
What is the way to the garden of the Hesperides?
Oh, that's it?
So much trouble just because of that?
Listen carefully...
O great Atlas, how can I be useful to you?
Who are you?
You must be sent by the Gods
I am Heracles
Looking for the way to the garden of the Hesperides
In order to bring to my brother, king Eurystheus, three golden apples.
Is that all?
I would get them for you in a second
if I wasn't supposed to hold up the sky.
You can put your burden on this peak for now.
It is not high enough.
But if you stood on that peak and raised you arms...
I can see that you are strong enough.
Is the sky very heavy?
You can bear it.
Decide!
Are you afraid?
You have it. Can you hold it?
Be quick.
I'm hurrying, don't worry! The apples are yours.
You are giving him too much freedom!
Well, no. He will return and everything will be all right again.
Do you think Heracles, your son, doesn't resemble you?
Whatever did you make him a God for?
Because as a human he is more dangerous than as a God.
Hurry! Hurry! - I got them.
Here are the apples of health and eternal youth!
That's great!
Excellent. I like it when everybody is happy.
So, farewell! - Where are you going?!
I will take them to your brother myself.
What about me?!
Someone must hold up the sky.
Stop!
You are right. Everybody should be happy.
But it would help if I could cover my shoulders with a lion's hide...
The sky really is quite heavy.
Have you got the feel of it now?
Alright, make yourself comfortable, then.
Hold it a bit.
Thanks for the apples! - Cheater!!!
You started cheating on me first.
Farewell! Your burden is not meant for my shoulders.
Bravo! Bravo!
So, it did happen! Why do you want to deny it.
For whom was I doing all this? For whom?
For them!
For them?
Why did they make you a god?
For obedience to the Gods, of course.
This is your best labour. - You are lying!!
Just look here! This is my best labour!
O Gods,
What's wrong?
It's dishonorable to torture someone who is defenseless.
It's the will of the Gods!
Didn't you see the writing?
''Suffer forever, defier of the Gods' will!"
What has he done?
He has stolen the sacred flame from heaven
and gave it to humans
Prometheus!
And for that, such torture?
The Gods know what they are doing.
Go away! Don't interrupt me!
Can't you see my task is hard?
Come to your senses, you fool!
You have stolen the sacred flame from heaven,
and gave it to mankind?
Where is it now? That flame?
Here! Inside me?!
I can't forget that.
I pecked Prometheus himself. Prometheus himself!
It turned out I was right!
I went against the Gods, and nothing happened.
And you say "obedience, obedience"...
The gods love audacious people!
How do you know that this was against the Gods' will?
Prometheus' term expired, so the Gods sent you.
That can not be true!
You would know!
You fought me 'till the last moment! - I may not have known.
My task was small.
Oh, you mean, mean bird!
Can it be that the best thing I have done in my life
was done at someone else's bidding?
It's not true!
The sacred flame still burns!
A metaphor.
Tell me, who is right?
It's time to go back! It has become morning.
No matter what, life on Olympus is more composed!
Go ahead.
Hurry, hurry! We should be back before sunrise!
Let me for the last time smell the earth.
Enough?
It's still burning; the sacred flame!
I praise you, oh great Prometheus!
Look, it is still moving!
- Who? - The hydra!
It turns out that I haven't cut all the heads.
Where? I can not see anything.
Down there! And there...
Don't you notice?
They look to me like insolent winged birds.
Stymphalian birds* * 6th labour. They plagued Arcadia
They are throwing down their deadly feathers.
People are dying!
And there! Look!
Someone is suffering in chains.
The ocean is not enough to wash away all the dirt from the earth.
Just look, just look!
I don't see anything!
Is it not enough for you to understand how a mere human can become a god?
Do you want to see how a God becomes a human?
Fly to Olympus on your own!
- What do you mean, on my own? - I will stay on the earth!
I hope that the Gods haven't foreseen this!
Zeus, my lord, do you see what is happening!? Help me!!!
Madman! Look what you are losing!
Turn your head! You are a God!
Don't you understand! A GOD!!!
You're a God! A God! - I am a human!
I am joining you, mankind!
The End (subs by ?, 2013. ed. Niffiwan, 2021)