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Sadayuki Murai's screenplay shifts between past and present as Alexander begins his wars of conquest. The episodes largely focus on a bizarre ritual in which Alexander's mother, Olympias, may have been impregnated by the god Zeus. Alexander visits the philosopher Diogenes in Athens, cuts the Gordian Knot in Phrygia, and attacks the Persian Empire. The mechanized Persian army is less threatening than the assassins of the "Cult of Pythagoras" who stalk the young king. An air of decadence pervades this garbled sci-fi reworking of ancient history. There are unsettling visual disjunctions between the CG machinery and the hand-drawn humans, and between the elongated, Expressionist-influenced figures of Alexander and his minions and the toad-like designs for Diogenes and Parmenion--who look like friends of Jabba the Hutt. (Unrated, suitable for ages 17 and older: violence, nudity, alcohol use, grotesque imagery, sexual situations, urination) --Charles Solomon
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