I guess the Krull cyclops is a fantasy standard now?

[Deset Gled]

I'm going to assume anyone who spends enough time on ENWorld has seen Krull. The 1983 D&D movie that wasn't. #2 in the ENWorld "Best D&D Movie" Survivor thread.

It featured a cool character, Rell the Cyclops. Played by Bernard Bresslaw. Character design and prosthetics by Nick Maley, better known as the guy who designed Yoda (also, writer for the movie "Inseminoid", which is the basis for the Polus map in Among Us, but I digress).

Rell is seen here with a young Liam Neeson:

And a couple more shots:

Some folks may also be aware of a small movie from 2009 called Gentleman Broncos. It's a comedy about a guy whose work is stolen by a big name author. The movie-within-a-movie gave us this hilarious scene:



The cyclops race is obviously a direct rip off of Rell from Krull. I've found in mentioned on the internet that it was an intentional homage, but I can't find who actually said it, or who worked the special effects for the movie. For those who won't/can't watch the movie, here's a couple pics:

Fast forward to this week, and I'm catching up on Saturday Night Live. It's been decades since I actually watched it live on Saturday night, but I follow it on youtube and enjoy a good sketch or Weekend Update. Anyway, they have a sketch featuring Ryan Gosling as a cyclops. Here's the clip:



And here's some screenshots:

You can't convince me that's not another Rell from Krull. It just is. I don't know who's responsible, but you know what you did.

So, I guess Rell the Cyclops from Krull is a bit of a fantasy standard now? Have you seen this cyclops anywhere else in the wild? Any other random places Krull has popped up? The only other random Krull reference I can think of off the top of my head is a monkey in the Balloons Tower Defence phone/flash games that wields a Glaive (not a glaive).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You can't convince me that's not another Rell from Krull. It just is.

If you were going to make a cyclops via make-up, what other way would you do it? Having the actors' eyes concealed in the wrinkles seems like the most practical way to do it.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I picked Krull for my turn in my movie night club! Love that movie!

Cant think of any other examples though.

Also Daggerheart kinda does, in thst "giants" can have 1 to 3 eyes.

 

[Artamo]

Love Krull, can see that as possibly being an inspiration, but the big difference is that Rell wasn’t a dummy. Also if you’re not going to have giant Cyclopses a la Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, I’m not sure how you make a different looking human-like cyclops than what Krull presented.

BTW, another cyclops example is the latest season of Percy Jackson.

 

[MarkB]

I was going to look for some other material to compare, but Googling "cyclops in movies" gets around a 95% ratio of X-Men to anything else.

There was that overseer guy in the Fallout series who is basically just a normal guy with an unusual eye placement, but somehow that feels more unnatural to me - like, where's he keeping the bridge of his nose?

 

[aco175]

Krull was the movie with the starfish boomerang weapon that I wanted to have for my kender thief back in the day.

If I remember, the cyclops could see in the future- but only when they were going to die.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Here's one from the 1990s movie, The Odyssey

And Wrath of the Titans in 2012

And of course all based off of Polyphemus

 

[Deset Gled]

If you were going to make a cyclops via make-up, what other way would you do it? Having the actors' eyes concealed in the wrinkles seems like the most practical way to do it.

For starters, it's not just the placement of the eye holes. It's the whole aesthetic. The hair. The expression. The style. I lack the formal education in art to properly describe it, but it's absolutely not just that one thing.

And as a second point - compare it to basically every other live action (to be fair, non-CGI) movie cyclops. The Harryhausen cyclops. The Lon Chaney cyclops. The Three Stooges cyclops. The Twilight Zone cyclops. The Boy God cyclops. The Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops cyclops. Even with similar eye placement, they look completely different.

 

[cbwjm]

Rell is seen here with a young Liam Neeson:

Wait, what? Liam Neeson was in Krull?! I guess I haven't seen the movie since the 80s/90s so there's no reason I should remember, but I had no idea.

 

[Deset Gled]

Wait, what? Liam Neeson was in Krull?! I guess I haven't seen the movie since the 80s/90s so there's no reason I should remember, but I had no idea.

Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) was, too.