Fan Theory #13: Kolchak and the Swamp Thing

Picture by braveandboldlost

In 1972, a movie was broadcast on TV, based on a (then) unpublished novel by Jeff Rice, called “The Night Stalker”. It’s about a vampire that is stalking Las Vegas, and a journalist, named Carl Kolchak, figuring this out before the police does, and chasing after the eponymous stalker.

The movie is considered to be one of the most successful TV-movies ever, so naturally a sequel was made, called “The Night Strangler”. This time, an immortal alchemist is stalking the streets of Seattle.

A third movie was planned, but somewhere along the lines, the producers changed their mind, and instead made a weakly TV-series, called “Kolchak: The Night Stalker”. A name that’s a little ironic. Before, the eponymous stalker was the antagonist, but now the title is referring to the protagonist.

Anyway, the series only lasted twenty episodes, but it was enough to leave a lasting impression on a number of people. Including Chris Carter (the guy who created “The X-Files”).

Why am I bringing up “Kolchak”, you wonder? Well, let’s talk one of its episodes, “The Spanish Moss Murders”. It’s about dead bodies are found, all of whom are covered in Spanish moss. I am no botanist, but it’s not likely that Spanish moss grows in Chicago (where the show takes place).

After some investigating, and interviews, Carl Kolchak figures out that the monster of the week is none other than Père Malfait, a swamp monster from the Louisiana bayous. However, when I looked into this, I haven’t been able to find anything about this Père Malfait. So it looks like this legend was made up for the show. While I would encourage such a thing, there is something else about this particular episode that bugs me.

To explain what I’m talking about, I will have to spoil the episode for you. So unless you’ve seen the episode yourself, I suggest you stop reading here.

As it turns out, even in the context of the episode, Père Malfait is not a real monster. Which is a little odd. Every other monster that was in this show (before and since this episode), was a real monster, but only this one wasn’t real. Well, sort of. What happened is that some guy, who was participating in a sleeping experiment, dreams up this monster, and this monster somehow manifests in the real world. Why didn’t they just let Père Malfait be a real monster? Or, if the monster of the week had to be a tulpa (which is the technical term for a real life manifestation of an imaginary being), why not let it be something the sleeper had created, rather than basing it on an old legend?

Here’s what I think happened behind the scenes:

At about the same time that “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” was broadcast, a new comic book series was launched by DC Comics, called “The Swamp Thing”. The story of this comic, is that a scientist, Alec Holland, had done some experiments in a bio-regenerating formula, in a lab located near the bayous of Louisiana. Of course, some shady syndicate is interested in the formula, and tries to steal it from the scientist. As the expression goes, bedlam erupts, the lab explodes, and Holland, drenched in his own formula, ends up in the nearby bayou. Somehow, a combination of his formula, and the local vegetation, turns Alec Holland into a monster, known only as the Swamp Thing.

So a swamp monster, living in the Louisiana bayous… it sounds like the Swamp Thing and Père Malfait are the same thing. And that is what brings me to what I think happens:

They originally wrote the Kolchak episode to be about someone who read the Swamp Thing comics, before participating in the sleep experiment, and thus creating a tulpa based on the character from the comic. But I’m guessing they couldn’t get the copyrights to use the character, so the writers had to create a monster of their own. But of course, I am only speculating.

One thing that makes this even more interesting, is when Alan Moore started writing for the Swamp Thing. I haven’t read his issues yet, so I don’t know all the details. What I do know, is that he essentially wrote how there have been other Swamp Things before the current one. It should also be noted that Alan Moore is known for writing “The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen” (the comic, not the movie), which takes place in a world where all of fiction is reality. So is it possible that when he wrote his Swamp Thing comics, he wrote it with this particular episode of Kolchak somewhere in the back of his mind? That he was trying to combine the two stories?

Wouldn’t that be interesting. Kolchak borrows from Swamp Thing, then Swamp thing borrows from Kolchak. And in 2005, history would repeat itself. I already mentioned how “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” was the inspiration for “The X-Files”, but then a remake of “Night Stalker” was released, which ripped off “The X-Files”. But that’s a subject for some other time.

What 2020 was like for me

When you ask many people what the year 2020 was like, most would say it was weird, unconventional, or, at the very least, not the easiest year of all time. But if one were to ask me (which nobody does, but why should that stop me from answering), this was the greatest year of my life.

Assuming I haven’t lost you by now (I’d refer you to a Benny Hill joke, or a joke that Thomas Harris brings up in his Hannibal Lecter novels, but that’s neither here nor there), allow me to explain.

Most of you may already know this, but I need to bring this up in order to put things into perspective: at some point in late 2019, a new virus was discovered in China. One which they hoped to contain before it became an epidemic. They not only failed (obviously), but they did not notify the World Health Organization until December, when it was too late. The virus in question is one that’s in the coronavirus family (which also causes the common cold), known as COVID-19. So contrary to popular belief (or usage), the terms COVID-19 and coronavirus are not interchangeable.

(On a side note, this reminds me of the time when a disaster happened around christmas of 2004 in South-East Asia. People were confused back then as to whether “tsunami” was the name of the disaster, or the name of the area where the disaster happened. Today, we’re seeing the same sort of confusion happening, where people get their virus terminology confused. I am not exactly innocent of that crime either)

At some point, about three months into 2020, the virus had spread all over the planet, thus a lockdown became necessary. Several new rules, new laws, etc., were made in an attempt to (at least) bring the number of patients at the hospital to a manageable level. Among other things, people weren’t allowed to go outside (unless absolutely necessary), not meeting with friends or family (or if you do, avoid physical contact), and avoid social gatherings (like going to bars, theaters, or parties).

When I heard this news, I had only one thing to say: How’s that any different from how I’ve been living my life so far?

Because of my communication problems, I never did have any real friends. Not during my days at school, not even during my years at university. And every time I tried to make friends… it backfired, and let’s leave it at that. Eventually, I began wondering why I should even bother making friends, seeing as every time I do, I just end up (to borrow from Bill Watterson’s Calvin character) adding names to the list of people that piss me off. So you can’t blame me if I started to live like a hermit.

In short, to use a metaphor, I’m a tiger living in a world of lions (lions being a social species, while tigers live in solitude). But then the pandemic happens, necessitating a quarantine, thus forcing people to change their lifestyles into one that is similar to mine. And, from what I can gather, a large majority of them could not. Lots of people started to claim this was some form of government oppression, many people had grown so tired of waiting, they started to have parties anyway, others even protested on the streets against the lockdown (they might as well protest against the virus itself, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some people actually did).

In summary, most people can’t live in isolation for a few months. Imagine having to live your entire life like this. To that I say: Welcome to my world.

I can only hope that people now have a better understanding of what my life is like (though, in all likelihood, this blog-post will fall on deaf ears). But if nothing else, this year has shown me that my hermit lifestyle is something to be proud of. Not only because it saved my life, but also because, clearly, almost nobody else can live that way. For a time, I envied others. After all, they make it seem so easy, to make friends, to simply connect with other people, which is something I could never do. But I do not envy them anymore. So it’s safe to say that the year 2020 has taught me something about myself, hence why I see it as the best year ever.

(for those wondering, what few people in my life that matter to me (all three of them), all are still alive, and as far as I can tell did not, at any point, become COVID-19 positive. So unlike most people, I did not lose anyone I love)

More random corona thoughts.

As it happens, before this whole lockdown happened, I was able to get my hands on piles of books, comics, and DVDs. Thus, unlike most people, I wasn’t bored at all. And if this lockdown lasts any longer… I still won’t be.

Among the DVDs that I mentioned, was the movie “Mimic”. Directed by Guillermo Del Toro, released in in 1997, based on a short story of the same title by Donald A. Wollheim, written in the 1940s. The original story is about a giant insect, which is able to mimic humans, and thus walk among us, undetected. The movie adds an interesting story. Believe it or not, the story is about how a virus is affecting (primarily) children all over New York City. A virus, which is spread through cockroaches. Thus in order to stop the virus from spreading, a new sort of insect is genetically engineered, to feast on the cockroaches. Months later, the virus disappeared. Unfortunately, the engineered insects keep breeding offspring, which will eventually grow to human size, and become the eponymous mimics.

Imagine that. If the CDC, WHO, or whatever other organization, decides to do the same thing to combat the coronavirus. Creating a new breed of insects, which somehow continues to evolve into beings that mimic humans. Giving people another excuse for what’s become known as “social distancing”.

Speaking of which, a little while ago, I re-watched the movie “Demolition Man”. A movie that takes place in the 2030s. According to that movie, after there was AIDS, other diseases popped up. The next being worse than the last. It’s because of these diseases that physical contact became outlawed. They even created a new form of high-fiving, where their hands come in close contact, but never actually touch. It’s already curious how a (at the time) dumb action movie, accurately predicted today’s politically correctness culture, and the nostalgia for the 1980s/90s. Now it actually predicted the social distancing culture? We’re only a few steps removed from using sea shells when using the toilet.

While we’re on the subject of toilets, somebody made the following meme:

I don’t know if there’s any truth to the notion that it started with a bat, but it sounds like the plot from “The Last Man On Earth” (and possible the novel “I Am Legend” that it’s based on, but since I haven’t read that one, I can’t know for sure… yet). Or for that matter, considering that there are still people out there, but they stay inside because the outside is too dangerous, our current situation may resemble “Daybreakers” more than “The Last Man On Earth”.

And getting back to the idea of accurately predicting the future: in the year 2000, a TV show was released called “Dark Angel”, created by James Cameron (yes, THAT James Cameron). It’s about a genetically engineered woman, who tries to live a normal life, in an America that looks more like a third world country. The show lasted only two seasons (its cancellation having something to do with 9/11), but had the show continued for a third season, if some of my sources are to be believed, the third season would be about a pandemic, which would wipe out most human life. But our main protagonist (somehow) holds the key to save the human race. The cruncher? Season 2 took place in 2020.

(The show also talks about how in the 1990s, a member of a eugenics cult had a falling-out with said cult, which prompted him to start the project that created the aforementioned genetically engineered character. Bear in mind that according to “Star Trek” lore, there was a Eugenics War during that same era. Hm…)

On a possibly related subject, there is this show I watched when I was younger… which unless you’re from the same country as I am, you probably never heard of it, so I’m not going to bother mentioning the name (or what it’s about). What I am going to mention is that in one episode of the show, the plot was about how one of the characters (a military sergeant) was tasked to transport a dangerous virus from one military base to another. But on the way, the casket containing the virus broke, and possibly infected the entire area. Toward the end, it turns out there never was a virus, but I like to point that the actor portraying the military character has died in real life during this pandemic crisis. Ironically, it wasn’t the virus that killed the actor.

Fan Theory #12: The Continuity of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre

A recurring trend with any franchise, is that either a movie gets remade, or a direct sequel is made to the first one, ignoring all else in between. Or some strange combination of the two. Examples include “Halloween”, “The Love Bug”, and “Gojira”. And yes, the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” falls into this category as well.

Supposedly, there are three timelines. The first consists of the original movie, followed by three sequels. One that was released in the ’80s (“Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2”, and two in the ’90s (“Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III” and “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation”). The second is that of the remake, which was released in 2003, plus a prequel to the remake (with the subtitle “The Beginning”). And the third timeline is that of “Texas Chainsaw 3D”, which is a direct sequel to the first, ignoring all else in between, plus a prequel, simply called “Leatherface”. Although, one can argue that the third movie ignores the second, and that fourth movie takes place in another separate continuity. So that makes FIVE timelines altogether. That won’t confuse new audiences at all(!)

But of course, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t find some way to combine all the aforementioned movies. Here’s the continuity of the series as I see it:

So first, you have the movie “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, which took place on August 18 of 1973. Where Sally Hardesty, her brother, and their friends, meet with Leatherface, his brother the Hitchhiker, and their father, the Cook. Everyone is killed, except Sally, who manages to escape, taking the Hitchhiker’s life in the process. She ends up telling everything to the cops, who take action. The events of this movie would then be reconstructed, and be given a theatrical release in 1974, as the movie we know.

(Yes, I’m well aware the whole thing is fiction, but the movie presents itself as a documentary of sorts, so I’ll have to assume that even within these fictitious realms, the first movie exists as a movie. A bit like how the events of the first “Scream” movie were the basis for the first “Stab” movie in “Scream 2”)

The family, anticipating the police, runs to Texas Battle Land (which was abandoned by that point), where the events of the sequel took place. Where it’s revealed that Leatherface’s family is called Sawyer. It should be noted, though, that while Leatherface was the Cook’s son in the first movie, here he’s referred to as the Cook’s brother. This means, then, that the Leatherface we see in this movie is NOT the same Leatherface from the previous movie. That Bubba Sawyer (as Leatherface was called in the sequel) is an uncle to the Leatherface from the first movie. So whatever happened in this movie, it does not (directly) affect the events from later movies.

The third movie, if my theory holds any water, reveals to us what happened to the Leatherface from the first movie. I guess whatever Sally did, caused the whole Sawyer family to scatter all over the state of Texas, as this movie does not take place at the same house as the first movie, nor anywhere near Texas Battle Land from the second movie. The same movie mentions that a man named W.E. Sawyer got arrested, and gassed for his crimes.

However, if W.E. is dead, who is the guy we saw in “The Next Generation”? For that matter, as so many others already brought up, the Leatherface we saw in this movie is nothing like Leatherface in any of the previous movies. So what is going on in this one? Well, here it is implied that some Freemason/Illuminati/insert-random-secret-society-here organization was behind all the kills. But what if this secret organization was only behind the family from “The Next Generation”? That this organization, inspired by (or loosely based on) stories about the Sawyer family, decided to create a facsimile? They’d reconstruct the family, in order to, as the character Rothman (the mastermind behind all this) put it, give their victims a “spiritual experience”? The deaths may be real, the culprits’ psychosis may be real, but the house, the set-up, many of the bodies that were already in the house, the family, or even the characters they’re representing… none of them are real. That would explain how W.E. is still alive, and why Leatherface was nothing like the guy we know. He’s just an actor, essentially, acting out his interpretation of the character. No more, no less.

And then we have the remake. Seeing as this involves a different family, and a completely different man (namely Thomas Hewitt) to don the Leatherface mask, I like to think that this one is part of the original movies’ canon, just with different people. However, I’ll admit, this brings about its own problems. For instance, the remake takes place on the exact same day, in the exact same state, where the killer uses (more or less) the exact same M.O. as the original. What are the odds of this? Even if we’re to assume that Thomas Hewitt is a copycat of the original Sawyer, how would he even know about what Sawyer did, BEFORE Sally made her testimony. But if my earlier theory is right, that Bubba Sawyer is the first Leatherface’s uncle, this could mean that Bubba Sawyer may have been killing for years before his nephew decided to make similar masks. The Hewitt family must have caught rumors about this, prompting Thomas to do the same thing.

Which makes sense. In the prequel to the remake, we see him picking up a chainsaw for… whatever reason. And we see him decide to wear other people’s faces for a mask for no clear reason. Not to mention his family accepts his new face, without questioning what he’s done. If the family was aware of Bubba Sawyer, this might explain all this.

And then we have “Texas Chainsaw 3D”, which ostensibly ignores every single movie since the first one. But in many ways, it confirmed my suspicions. One, Leatherface is referred to as Jed Sawyer, not Bubba, which confirms that Leatherface from the first two movies aren’t one and the same person. Granted, Bubba is more of a nickname than an actual name, but nobody ever referred to Jed as Bubba, so it still counts. Also, the vigilante justice that was carried out on the Sawyer family, would explain why (what few) survivors of the family would run to Texas Battle Land, or that other house in the third movie. Then again, the movie’s prologue shows how the Cook, and Grandpa, were killed. But considering that the prologue has the same grainy look as the first movie, I’m inclined to think that this, too, was merely a reconstruction. So what we saw may just be what the vigilantes believed happened, not what actually happened.

Which leaves us with “Leatherface”. A common complaint people have about this movie, is that we (the audience) don’t need to know why Leatherface started making masks out of people’s skins. It’s scarier if we didn’t know. And in a way, as I want to present to you, we still don’t. We saw how Jed Sawyer’s face got damaged. That might explain why he decided to wear masks. But why such a specific hobby as making masks out of other people’s skins? Maybe, as I already explained earlier, he’s just doing what he’s seen his Uncle Bubba do. Off screen, obviously. Which begs the question, why did Bubba start doing it? That is something we can only speculate about. Wonder if the killer from “Psycho” had something to do with this…

My review of “Heroes United: Coronavirus”

Between watching videos about the Slenderverse and exotic felines (so I think regular house cat videos are dull, sue me), I happened upon a video called “HEROES UNITED: CORONAVIRUS”, which is uploaded by someone with the username “Mightyraccoon!” (whom I either never heard of before, or don’t remember if I did). At first, I thought it was going to be a video where someone just edited scenes from existing movies together, and somehow make it look like they’re fighting the coronavirus, and little else. And this for twelve minutes long. I thought I would watch the first few seconds, find out if I’m right, and move on to the next video.

In other words, my expectations for this video were incredibly low. Even lower than that Street Fighter/Power Rangers video from last year. Just imagine, then, how blown away I felt after I saw the “Heroes United” video.

The story is as follows: an army of humanoids, with heads that are shaped like the coronavirus, are attacking cities everywhere. Thus a group of heroes must combine forces, to rid our planet of this threat. Said heroes consist of Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Flash, Deadpool, Sonic, Goku, Saitama (aka One-Punch Man), Genos, Leonardo (the only Ninja Turtle used here), Captain America, John Wick, the Terminator, John Cena, Thor, Wolverine, Shaggy (without Scooby Doo, for some reason), Mr. Incredible, Rick and Morty. I don’t want to give away too much. Then again, it’s a short film in the superhero genre. How do you think it’s going to end?

I was wrong to think this was just going to be a montage of scenes from existing movies. Mightyraccoon! made its own CG animations of the characters. Even their voices sounded like they were spoken in by the original actors. It could be the case that they used audio from the original movies and/or series, except some of the characters actually mentioned “coronavirus”, so that can’t be the whole truth. They either hired imitators, cloned voices, or somehow got the original actors to voice the characters in this short film. Or something else entirely. Or some combination of the aforementioned. In short, hate to borrow from John Hammond in “Jurassic Park”, but Mightyraccoon! spared no expense for this project.

Personally, I would not have picked half the heroes that were in this short. In some cases, it’s because some of these characters are over-hyped as it is. In case of others, it’s either because I don’t know them, or (in case of John Cena) never heard of them. I also think it weird that only Leonardo would be used. After all, doesn’t he work better when his brothers (Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello) are with him? But regardless, the point of this short film was to let superheroes combat the thing that is scaring everyone everywhere today. To let these heroes do what they are always meant to do: bring hope to the audience, that things will be all right in the end. And I do believe they succeeded in that.

Toward the end, before the credits roll, there is a caption, which talks about how the real heroes are the doctors, the scientists, and others, who work around the clock, to save as many lives as they can. This feels reminiscent of what was done way back in 2001. When an issue of Spider-Man was released that was a “Tribute To Our Heroes”. In it, it was shown that when the events of September 11 of that year happened, the Marvel heroes did everything they could to save as many people as they could. But rather than simply saying that the superheroes saved people, it acknowledged that the real heroes were the people from emergency services (fire fighters, paramedics, and such). I don’t know if Mightyraccoon! took inspiration from this issue, but I was reminded of it none the less.

(On a side note, if I’m allowed to nitpick a little, the description of the video says it’s about “heroes of our generation”. I have no idea how old the people behind Mightyraccoon! are, but I doubt they were born in the 1960s (when the Marvel heroes they used first appeared) or the ’30s and ’40s (when the DC heroes first appeared) so the notion that they are of “our generation” is a tad misleading. But it does nothing to ruin the short film)

Coronavirus and Random Thoughts

A few years ago, I watched this show, called “Survivors”. It was (originally) broadcast in 2008, based on a novel by Terry Nation (known primarily for creating the Daleks from “Doctor Who”), which in turn was a novelization of a show from the 1970s. So I watched a show that was based on a book, which was based on a show. Rather than a show that was a re-imagining of another show. You figure that one out.

Anyway, the show was about a global pandemic, which wiped out most of the population, safe for the few that were naturally immune to the virus. But before the show begins to focus on these survivors, we are shown how authorities are doing everything they can to quarantine everyone, finding a cure, but ultimately unable keep the virus from killing the majority of the population.

Sounding familiar at all? When I first saw this, I thought that what I was shown was exaggerated, as fiction more often than not is. But now that I’m witnessing this in real life, the similarities are staggering. The panic that comes with the pandemic, all the measures that are taken to keep it from spreading, and talk of how the current few weeks of quarantine may not be enough… it’s safe to say that maybe the events of this show weren’t so exaggerated after all.

Of course, I wouldn’t be… well, me, if current events reminded me of only one work of fiction.

For instance, apparently, there are some people in power, who are now hoarding vaccines. In other words, the elites are trying to keep themselves safe, while the regular people get to suffer through the virus. Somebody either never read Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”, or did but missed the point completely.

In addition, I remember reading somewhere that kids aren’t susceptible to the virus. I don’t know if this is true or not. If not, this is either a misunderstanding on my part, or outdated information. Either way, as soon as I read it, it sounded like this virus will wipe out all the adults, but not the children. Sounds like this virus may turn the world into the one described in Charles Higson’s “The Enemy”, or the 2002 TV-series “Jeremiah”. Or even that planet from the Star Trek (original series) episode “Miri”.

While on the subject of kids, I have been told that the quarantine has closed school. If I may let the child in me talk: that THIS should happen after I already graduated!

But these are just my thoughts as all this is happening. How do other people cope with this?

From what I can gather, much like how I am reminded of several works of fiction about a similar subject, other people are too. Although too many of them are all reminded of only one work of fiction. Namely “The Stand” by Stephen King. A book which I haven’t read (yet), so I can’t know how similar real life is to his novel. What I do know is that I find it a little disturbing that so many people are reminded of the same story. Is the rest of the world connected to some kind of hive mind? I remember reading somewhere that if everyone read the same book, everyone is thinking the same thing. And if everyone thinks the same, nobody is thinking. (yes, I’m sure I’m quoting others, but since I have no idea who, I can’t mention their names)

Meanwhile, on some social media, people are going around saying that during the Plague, Shakespeare wrote “King Lear”. An interesting notion, but according to the same social media, Abraham Lincoln once said that nothing on the internet is reliable. So, one should take this with a grain of salt.

My thoughts on “Batman” (1966) so far

For the longest time, the 1960s “Batman” TV series was unavailable on DVD. And it’s easy to see why. At the time it was produced, Batman and related characters (as well as the whole world of DC Comics) wasn’t owned by Warner Bros. yet. And this show was produced by 20th Century Fox. Not to mention that at some point this show crossed over with the “Green Hornet” series, which is owned by yet another company. The things copyrights can do…

Anyway, it took them years before the show was released on DVD, and it took me another four years before I was able to get my hands on a copy. And yet another few months before I was able to start watching it.

And even though I’m only a few discs into the series, I’ve begun to notice a number of things that both bug and intrigue me.

For instance, pop culture would often make reference to this show’s theme song. But one thing I’ve begun to notice, is that everybody gets the theme song wrong. Everyone would have you believe the song goes like this:
“Nuhnuh, nuhnuh, nuhnuh, nuhnuh, Batman”
When in actuality, it’s:
“Batman, nuhnuh, nuhnuh, nuhnuh, nuhnuh, nuhnuh, nuhnuh”

I also noticed that some of the episode are being shown in the wrong order. For instance, we are shown the two-parter episode that introduces us to Mr. Freeze, which takes place in July. But immediately the next episode, about “Zelda the Great” (an ironic name, in hindsight), takes place on April Fools’ Day. Also, that two-parter ends with a preview, which says that the next episode involves the Joker. But, surprise, surprise, the next episode was about the Riddler. Also, the picture shown in the preview was obviously from an earlier episode. I noticed a similar trend when I watched “The Munsters” about a year ago, which was originally released around the same time as “Batman”. I guess continuity wasn’t a huge priority in those days.

Getting back to the theme song, let’s talk about the opening credits. For reference, you can view it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jgE-lrfZ3k

In this intro, a number of criminals can be seen. Some of them can be recognized as recurring enemies from Batman. Among others, there’s the Joker, the Penguin, and someone who vaguely resembles Catwoman. But then this guy pops up:

A guy with a scaly skin. My first thought is Killer Croc. Except he wasn’t even a character in the comics until the 1980s. Maybe it was an idea for a villain that the producers had, but never came to fruition. Or it did, I just haven’t gotten to that part of the show yet. I’ll just have to wait and see. But then there’s this guy.

A guy with a sack over his head, and carrying a knife. Sounds like your typical slasher villain. Except the genre didn’t exist yet. Sure, “Psycho” has been around since ’59 (the novel, anyway), but the eponymous character didn’t wear a sack. It can’t be a reference to the way Jason Voorhees looked in “Friday the 13th Part 2”, as Part 1 wasn’t released until 1980. Also, since this show is remembered for its campy, and lighthearted nature, I doubt they’d have allowed for a serial killer in this show. As such, I doubt I’ll actually see this guy later in the show. So if I had to guess, the character is either a reference to the Tarantula from “The Sandman” (Golden Age, not Neil Gaiman’s), which is another DC Comics character. Or it refers to the real life Phantom Killer from Texarkana, who was active exactly twenty years prior (and was the basis for the 1976 movie “The Town That Dreaded Sundown”). Were they trying to say that Batman caught the Phantom Killer? There’s an interesting thought.

Fan Theory #11: The Five Jasons

I know what some of you might be thinking now. How can there be five Jasons? Some among you may be able to accept the guy from the remake as an entity that’s separate from the original, but that still leaves us with three more Jasons. Why do I think there may be five of them? Let’s count them.

First, there’s Jason Voorhees as we already know him. The characters we were shown in the eight movies that were released in the 1980s (granted, Jason wasn’t the killer in two of those movies, but he did appear in flashbacks and dream sequences, so it counts). A man who apparently drowned when he was young, back in the 1950s, grew up all alone in the woods of Camp Crystal Lake, New Jersey, and does not tolerate anyone who enters his territory.

Second, there is the man who served as the primary antagonist in “Jason Goes To Hell”. My personal criticism of this movie is that it says that Jason is just a demon. Not the angry, vengeful misanthrope that a majority of the audience (myself included) sympathizes with. No, he’s just a demon. But I don’t think he is. What if the man we saw was really Jason’s biological father?

For those wondering how that works, here’s my theory: in “Friday The 13th: The Game” (2017), it is revealed that Jason is the product of rape. He’s not the son of Pamela Voorhees’ husband (this messes with the continuity a bit, I admit, but I have a theory about that as well, which I may explain in a different post). Which raises the obvious question: who is Jason’s father? Well, I’m thinking of Lewis Vendredi.

Lewis Vendredi is a character from “Friday The 13th: The Series”, who made a deal with the devil, in which he has to curse objects, and sell them through his antique store. Throughout the show, it is made clear that he made several attempts at contacting the devil, before he finally made his deal in the 1980s. It’s safe to assume that one early attempt required him to rape an innocent woman (Pamela Voorhees). This might explain Jason’s apparent immortality. Anyway, by 1987, Vendredi must have found out he had a child, which would explain his sudden change of heart at the beginning of the series, leading to his descend into hell. An experience that must have made him nihilistic, which would explain why he reverted to being a villain in later episodes. Episodes in which he tried whatever he could to return to the realm of the living. What if one of his attempts was to posses the body of a blood-relative? I.e. Jason’s body?

This might explain a slight continuity error between Parts 7 and 8. Part 7 ends with Tina Sheppard’s father popping up from Crystal Lake, grabbing Jason, and dragging him down. What if it wasn’t Tina’s father? It may have been his body, but it wasn’t the father who was in control. It was Vendredi, who then jumped from Tina’s father’s body, into Jason’s. And once he gained enough control (which must have happened after Part 7’s epilogue), Vendredi starts wreaking havoc. But Jason, eventually, finds a way to fight back. He somehow forces his father’s soul to be confined to his heart, which he then rips out, and tosses it across the river. But even Jason cannot remain standing for too long without a heart, so he collapses into the aforementioned river, leading to the events of Part 8, which (literally) brings him to Manhattan. During his absence, since Vendredi is possessing Jason’s heart (and “Jason X” mentions he has regenerative abilities), he can grow a new body. And that body is the one that is terrorizing Crystal Lake in “Jason Goes To Hell”.

(some of you might bring up the fact that the presence of the Book Of The Dead in “Jason Goes To Hell” might rebuke what I just said, but I have yet another theory about the true nature/purpose of that book in that movie. But that’s a subject for a different post)

Since I brought up “Jason X”, this brings us to the third Jason: the original one, as mentioned in “Jason X”, would end up getting arrested, and executed. Or rather, numerous attempts are made to execute him, but all failed. If they can’t kill him, they can still contain him. Put him in cryogenic stasis. But the only prison available at the time is the one in Los Angeles (as shown in “Demolition Man”), and transporting him from New Jersey to L.A. is not without risk. So they built a cryo-prison in Crystal Lake, especially for him, and he’s been trapped in there since 2010. However, both the previous and the next movie confirm that the “Friday The 13th” movies happen in the same universe as “A Nightmare On Elm Street”. Those same movies have demonstrated that when you’re in Freddy Krueger’s dream, and you grab hold of something, or someone, and if you wake up at THAT exact moment, you will wake up holding that something/-one in reality. It’s how they managed to pull Krueger out of the dream world and into the real world on several occasions. Well then, suppose Jason, while in stasis, is being haunted by Krueger, and they somehow end up in someone else his/her dream. And that someone else grabs hold of (specifically) Jason, and wakes up just then. This would mean that Jason is now outside his own body, able to terrorize Crystal Lake again. It may even be the case that Krueger made him dream of being in hell, which would explain why he looks the way he does in that 2017 game.

(I know the game’s not canon, but since most of the members of the original creative team was involved in the creation of the game, I like to think that it is canon)

Then we have the fourth Jason: the guy we saw in “Freddy Vs. Jason”. This movie has been criticized for several things. One of which being how Jason is treated. In the movie, it’s revealed that he’s afraid of the water. While this might make sense from a psychological perspective (since it is part of Jason’s mythology that he drowned), it makes no sense in terms of continuity, since Jason’s never shown any fear from water in earlier movies. Now, I vaguely remember having read a fan theory somewhere that the events of “Freddy Vs. Jason” may not have actually happened. That it in fact all took place in the heads of those coma patients we saw in the movie. Which makes sense. This way, Jason in this movie could just be construct, based on the patients knowledge, understanding, and/or speculation as to who or what Jason is. Add to that the fact that Tommy Jarvis (Jason’s nemesis) has spent some time in the same psychiatric clinic from “FVJ” (according to the 2017 game), it would explain how these characters would even know about Jason in the first place.

The final Jason, I more or less already explained earlier in the post: the guy from the 2009 remake. It may not be part of the original movies’ continuity, but that does not mean it’s not part of the franchise’ canon. My own personal head-canon is that this movie’s version of Crystal Lake is located in Texas (since the movie is aesthetically reminiscent of that Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake). As such, it can exist within the same realms, independent of the narrative or continuity of the original movies.

As for those wondering how the comics and the novels tie into all this… I can’t speak for the comics (since I haven’t read those… yet), but considering the lack of continuity, and the over-abundance of stupidity in the novels, it’s safe to assume they aren’t canon. You can maybe tie them to the Jackson character from “Unmasked Part 25”, for all I care.

Fan Theory #10: how Psycho inspired slashers

In the late fifties, a man named Robert Bloch published a novel, titled “Psycho”. A novel which Alfred Hitchcock read, and turned into a movie one year later. Said movie inspired several filmmakers to start making a movie of their own. About a psychotic killer, who goes around killing people.

In other words, we have “Psycho” to thank for what is called the slasher genre. But, being one who loves to think that all characters of fiction co-exist, the thought occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, within these fictitious realms, the eponymous psycho might have inspired the killers from these slasher movies to become killers in the first place.

Now, in order for me to explain my little theory, I will have to spoil the ending to “Psycho”. So unless you’ve actually read/seen the novel/movie, you might not want to read the rest of this.

One thing that seems plausible to me, is that when Norman Bates got arrested, it would be in all the papers. They’d talk about how he killed several people, where he dumped them, and even how he robbed his mother’s grave. When a member of the Sawyer family (possibly the only member of that family who can read) read this in the papers, it gave him an idea. Why wouldn’t he and his family start robbing graves themselves? In doing so, one other member of the family could have decided to peel the skin off the long-dead corpses, make masks out of them, and thus Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) was born.

Meanwhile, Norman Bates got institutionalized. He may not always have stayed in the same institution for long either. He may have spent some time at Smith’s Grove, where Michael Myers (Halloween) was held. In fact, there is a line of dialogue in the first “Halloween” movie, where Myers’ doctor, Loomis, was talking about how Myers “could drive very well last night. Perhaps somebody in here gave him lessons.” What if Bates was that “somebody”?

While we’re on the subject, there is another fan theory that I feel I have to address: Michael Myers’ doctor is named Sam Loomis. And in “Psycho”, there is Marion Crane (the woman from the famous shower scene) who was engaged to a man, and he’s also named Sam Loomis. The theory goes that both characters with the same name, are in fact one and the same character. Personally, I don’t adhere to that theory. Why not? Because of a sequel that Robert Bloch wrote (and let me remind you, Bloch is the guy who wrote the original “Psycho” novel). I don’t want to give away too much, but the bottom line is that what happens to Sam Loomis in the “Psycho” novels, doesn’t match with what happens to Sam Loomis in the “Halloween” movies. So, wanting to respect Robert Bloch (more than Hollywood does), as far as I’m concerned, they’re not the same character. But, thinking about it, this could explain why he taught Myers anything at all. Maybe, because Myers’ doctor shares the name with one of the people who got Bates institutionalized, he thought that if he tutored Myers, he might in his own way get even at Loomis.

Moving on, there is Pamela Voorhees, from the first “Friday The 13th”. Information about her (or indeed, anyone from this franchise) is numerous, and contradictory. But one thing that can be ascertained, is that when she was pregnant with Jason, she was only a teenager. So it makes sense if she considered abortion. Of course, at the time, abortion wasn’t legal in many states, so she went on a little road trip with her boyfriend (later husband). Eventually, they stayed at the Bates Motel, where they became witness to a fight that Norman had with his mother (ear-witness, anyway, since his mother was already dead by that point). This helped Pamela come to a realization: that if she were to kill her unborn child, she’d be no better mother than Norman’s is. Thus, she decided to keep the child.

And then there is the fact that Norman Bates, according to the original novel, had an interest in the paranormal. In which case, it seems possible that he often dared some of the guests into having a séance. What if young Freddy Krueger was one of them?

But again, these are just my thoughts. What do you think?

My thoughts on “Power Rangers Legacy Wars – Street Fighter Showdown”

A little while back I saw a trailer for a short film that was to be produced by the Youtube channel “Bat In The Sun”. For those unfamiliar with the channel, they are people who are known for the “Super Power Beatdown” series, where each episode is about one popular character of fiction fighting against another character from another popular work of fiction. Such as “Darth Vader vs. Batman”, “Wonder Woman vs. Wolverine”, “Davy Jones vs. Kick-Ass”, and many others. But before that, they were an group of amateur filmmakers, who made several fan films.

That is how I was first introduced to them anyway. In fact, the first video on Youtube that I’ve ever seen is one of theirs. It was the Batman fan film “Dark Justice”. So it’s safe to say that I’ve been a fan of theirs from the very beginning.

Anyway, back to the trailer I mentioned. The trailer was for a short film, which is a crossover between “Power Rangers” and “Street Fighter”. Or more accurately, it is based on the video game “Power Rangers: Legacy Wars”, which at some point crosses over with “Street Fighter”.

When I first saw it, I had no idea how to feel. On the one hand, I have always said that I’m not a fan of Power Rangers. I used to be, I’ll admit, but I’m not anymore. And how can I be, now that I am familiar with Super Sentai, which is the show that PR is adapted from? As for “Street Fighter”, I never played those games, so I cannot be a fan of that. And yet, somehow, when I saw this trailer, I did feel a little excited. The cinematography looked darker, the characters looked to be in a situation they wouldn’t dare to show in the PR series proper, and there is the promise of a new transforming hero to appear in this short. How can I not feel a little excited?

A few days ago, the short film was released, and yes, I have watched it. And my immediate reaction was: “what the hell did I just watch?”

Do not misunderstand me. The action was superb, the cinematography was great, and it was fun to see these characters in a slightly darker setting . And that includes the “Street Fighter” characters. Because although I never played the games, I did see the movie that was released in the 1990s (where the camp and cheese was at roughly the same level as PR, so it counts). This video was exactly what I would expect from Bat In The Sun. So, seemingly, I should find nothing wrong with this. And I’ll even admit, if I saw this as a child, I would be blown away. So why did I say “what the hell did I just watch” upon seeing this?

Is it because the Rangers used Street Fighter moves which they (as far as I’m aware) don’t do in the series proper? No, because this short follows the continuity of the “Legacy Wars” game, so it probably makes more sense in that context. Is it the fact that the “Street Fighter” character Ryu, when he transforms into a Ranger himself, he is bird-themed, even though (considering the meaning of the name “Ryu”) it would make more sense for him to be dragon-themed? Even if it was, the suit did look amazing, so I can forgive them for this. So what’s the problem?

And by the way, the Ranger that Ryu transforms into is called “Ryu Ranger”. A name which is already taken, as that’s the name of the red guy in “Gosei Sentai Dairanger”.

Speaking of which, I think I just figured out the answer to my own question. This short film puts PR even more into the spotlight. In other words, it’ll overexpose that series so much, that I fear that Super Sentai (i.e. the show without which PR would not even exist in the first place) will be living in the shadow of its adaptation. A bit like what happened to Tears For Fears’ “Mad World”, once Gary Jules’ version was released. Or Peter Benchley’s novel “Jaws” once Steven Spielberg adapted that into a movie.

In short, I do not hate this short film at all. It had everything I wanted to see, and more. I would even go so far as to say that Bat In The Sun is much better at this than whoever is in charge of making the actual PR series (and for that matter, whoever was in charge of making the “Street Fighter” movies). I just wish somebody would do something like this for the original Super Sentai series. I can’t speak for other fans of that series, but I do hope there are others who feel the same way.