First REAL Official "Ash vs Evil Dead" Production news!

This week, production began on the highly anticipated upcoming Starz series, Ash vs Evil Dead, which has creators Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell reuniting, this time in New Zealand, to bring fans a new iteration of everyone’s favorite chainsaw-wielding anti-hero.
Daily Dead had the opportunity to take part in a very special conference call with the trio about what we can expect from the first 10-episode season (and beyond), how Ash vs Evil Dead will fit into the overall Evil Dead universe, input into some of the new characters we’ll be meeting along the way and much, much more.
 



Ash vs Evil Dead will definitely be hardline horror but expect some quintessential Evil Dead comedy to show up from time to time: According to Raimi, Ash vs Evil Dead is definitely going to be an intense horror experience but when you’re working with someone like Campbell who has such impeccable comedic timing, of course you need to add in those comedic touches to the script. “We’re going back to the horror of the first two Evil Dead’s but then we’re going to be infusing this with the comedy from the second and third Evil Dead films,” explained Raimi.

Ash vs Evil Dead will take place in a slightly altered Evil Dead universe: While Raimi, Tapert and Campbell didn’t want to reveal any spoilers during our call (which we appreciated), what we did learn is that this new series will take place in modern days and will pick up somewhere after Evil Dead 2 leaves off. We will also see some similar locations to ones we’ve seen in the film series but fans can expect a modernized twist on them.

Ash will be fighting Deadites- and other types of evil entities too: As Tapert explained on the call, Deadites are of course an essential element to any Evil Dead story but Ash will also be facing other kinds of evil during the series, opening worlds of possibilities they’re all excited explore during the first and upcoming seasons of Ash vs Evil Dead.

When we catch up with Ash in the new series, he’s considered “damaged goods”: Campbell discussed the headspace of his character during the call, saying, “He’s not in the best shape, mentally, and that’s something that appealed to me as an actor. And the interesting twist this time is that now, Ash is in charge of saving the world which is huge.”
Raimi also offered up his thoughts on just where the character of Ash is now, after all this time. “Ash is no finer or nobler than he was the last time we saw him. His courage hasn’t been whipped up into a frenzy or anything; in fact, he’s pretty much at his lowest point when we first find him and it’s only through his actions that a hero is reborn within himself.”

Ash might be responsible for the return of the Deadites and the other evil forces that are unleashed: Raimi was possibly joking (there was a good amount of laughter involved) but it was mentioned during the call that Ash (in typical form) just could very well be the guy who rustles up the Deadites after they had been lying dormant for all these years. Nothing specific was mentioned but knowing Ash’s proclivity of forgetting key words to certain incantations.

There is the potential to see Ash get into a few romantic entanglements on Ash vs Evil Dead- eventually: While Raimi argues that his girlfriends are far unluckier, to say that Ash’s love life has been complicated over the years is something of an understatement. That being said, fans shouldn’t necessarily expect to see our favorite ladies man getting himself any sugar or indulging in some pillow talk right away on Ash vs Evil Dead, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen eventually either.  According to Campbell, when the time does come for Ash to cross paths with a love interest, it will be something that “makes sense within the overall story for the series.”

As with any Evil Dead story, there is potential for time travel down the road in Ash vs Evil Dead: Raimi talked about the fact that season one very much takes place during the present day but said he hasn’t ruled out the potential for any kind of time travel in the future, possibly as early as the end of the first season as they haven’t mapped out the final two episodes fully at the time of the call.

Ash vs Evil Dead will definitely have an overarching storyline but casual fans won’t feel alienated if they pop in for an episode here and there either: According to Tapert, there will be a lot to appreciate in Ash Vs. Evil Dead for both die-hard and casual fans alike. He also credited the 30-minute format as a way for them to be able to capitalize on the shorter format to keep the pacing brisk, much like the original films did.

Just because we’re getting an Ash vs Evil Dead television series does that mean we won’t ever see Campbell back on the big screen- or a possible sequel to Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead remake: During the conference call, Raimi was asked about how the new series affects the status of a sequel to the 2013 remake and Campbell cleared up whether or not fans can ever expect to see his iconic character on the big screen now that he’s set to take over the Starz network later this year.
“I loved the Evil Dead remake and I think Fede did an amazing job,” explained Raimi. “I genuinely love that movie and I do hope that one day we do get to make a sequel to it. I just think the one thing we heard from the fans, who all were really supportive of it, was that they were hoping to have Ash in it in some capacity. So we just thought the idea of a series would work and so we chose to go with Bruce’s character’s story for now. I do hope we can get back with Fede though and make another Evil Dead with him.”
Campbell added, “Another Evil Dead movie will always be a possibility either way. Nothing ever precedes anything so it’s always an option for us. I don’t think, even with the upcoming series, that we’ll ever want to shut the door on any possibility to play around in this universe.”

Ash vs Evil Dead becoming a reality was largely due to the fans insistence for more Evil Dead: During the conference call, Raimi discussed that regardless of whatever project he was working on or promoting over the years, the one series he would always be asked about was Evil Dead and when we’d see another installment of the cult franchise.
“The one thing Ivan (Raimi) and I kept being asked about over and over again was about the potential for more Evil Dead; it didn’t matter if it was Spider-Man or whatever, it always came back to Evil Dead. I tried to ignore it for so long just because I wanted to go out there and make different kinds of films but then I realized that maybe it was time to revisit it. So I went to Ivan and we wrote a number of different ideas up- ideas set in the future, ideas that picked up after the first Evil Dead or even after Army of Darkness but nothing was quite right for the big screen.”
“Plus, we know we have a smaller demo than a lot of franchises so it didn’t necessarily make sense to do a big, Hollywood movie. That’s when Rob suggested doing it as a TV show. The best thing about this series is Ash so why not use a format where fans can spend more time with him than a traditional movie would allow? Rob’s got a ton of experience producing in television and Bruce is a pro on TV so it all made perfect sense.”

Just because Evil Dead is coming to TV, don’t expect the showrunners to shy away from the series’ signature violence and gore: According to Tapert, the Evil Dead tradition of crazy gore and violence will live on in Ash vs Evil Dead and they’re working with special effects master Roger Murray (Evil Dead remake, 30 Days of Night) to create all kinds of gore-soaked madness that fans have come to expect from the series over the years, but with an updated twist of course.

Ash will not be battling against the Evil Dead alone this time around: Tapert also filled us in on some of the new faces to the Evil Dead universe and how they happen to fit into Ash’s world.
“In this incarnation, there’s a team that begins to form around Ash as he battles against Deadites and all kinds of evil,” said Tapert. “There’s Pablo (Ray Santiago) who’s a young immigrant that wants to be part of the American experience and ends up following Ash. Then, there’s Dana DeLorenzo who plays Kelly Maxwell; she’s kind of Pablo’s love interest but she doubts Ash and his motives at first so there’s some conflict. Eventually, she realizes there’s something bigger at play though.”
“Then there’s Jill Marie Jones who plays a police officer that sees something she doesn’t quite believe and it ends up causing some major problems in her career. She crosses paths with Ash and thinks he’s the one responsible for all the weird things happening. And of course we have Lucy Lawless who’s playing Ruby, a character that knows something about the Evil Dead and is on the hunt for Ash. There will also be other characters along the way but that’s the core team for season one.”

Raimi, Tapert and Campbell aren’t the only Evil Dead veterans returning to work on the Ash vs Evil Dead show:  Also returning are composer Joe LoDuca and editor Bob Murawski who are back to add in that certain Evil Dead flavor that Raimi and Tapert both recognized were essential to the series.

Raimi, Campbell and Tapert are in it for the long haul when it comes to Ash vs Evil Dead: During the conference call, Raimi reinforced the idea that everyone involved with this new Evil Dead project isn’t looking to kill some time between films and that they’re planning on Ash vs Evil Dead sticking around for at least a few seasons. According to Campbell, “I’m not planning on going anywhere else anytime soon. Taking on this series was a big thing for me and I’m taking it very seriously.”
“Bruce did make some supreme sacrifices for Ash vs Evil Dead so I can vouch for his dedication. We’re all dedicated to this show for the long haul,” added Tapert.
Raimi, who is directing the first episode but will be heavily involved with the series in an ongoing capacity, agreed with Tapert, “I feel the same way- we’re all very dedicated to the success of this show. We’re really loving this process and working together again. We all love this universe deeply and that’s why we’re here now.”

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The Malev Return (for the 1st time)

   Malev 6 returned in Gold Key Magnus: Robot Fighter #21. This time, it appears as a "nebulous ghostly something", which is a fine explanation for a being composed of Ectotheric Energy.

The two humans call this apparition the Space Spectre and it basically outlines it's ultimate use of Ectotheric Energy. Why they would ever go along with this is a discussion for another day.

The Ecto-Rob grows huge and Magnus, backed by the Ectotheric Energy from Willo's tribe, follows suit. They battle through North Am.



The History of Snake Plissken: Excerpts from the book of the film

I know that a lot of fans may not have been fortunate enough to have ever read the Mike McQuay book adaptation of "Escape from New York", so I figured I'd let you all in on Plissken's backstory. This was adapted from John Carpenter & Nick Castle's original screenplay.

THE FOLLOWING TEXT HAS BEEN SLIGHTLY REFORMATTED. I DID NOT CHANGE ONE WORD OF THE TEXT, BUT REARRANGED CERTAIN PARAGRAPHS AS SNAKE'S HISTORY WAS RECOUNTED IN SNIPPETS OVER THE COURSE OF THE ADVENTURE.

 







"Plissken had picked up the name Snake in the service, and it had stuck so hard that now there was nobody left alive on the face of the planet who knew his real first name. They called him Snake because he had a knack for slithering out of trouble. He commanded a search and destroy squad that had the best record of success in the entire Russian campaign. No one could figure out why the Snake did so well; but the Snake knew. Some people built things with their hands. Others could compose beautiful music or had a head for figures. Snake Plissken had a talent for making war. It was in his blood

He had been a hot shot college boy when they commissioned him as a lieutenant and sent him to the Russian front. Everyone had been real excited about the war when it first came around. It had been, after all, a long time since the last real confrontation and everyone needed to flex their ego muscles a little.

It had started small and built somewhere in the Middle East. It was the gradual build-up that somehow managed to keep the nukes out of it. There had been a conference in Stockholm early on, where the principal nations agreed to avoid the nuclear exchange to protect the nonaligned nations of the world. That was just a smoke screen, of course. In actuality, nobody wanted their *beep* blown away finally and completely.

So they decided on something else, something that sounded very harmless and sophisticated. They decided on chemicals. The chemicals were nasty. He supposed that there was no way of killing that wasn’t nasty underneath it all, but the chemical clouds that continually floated in the atmosphere killed in slow motion. No one was untouched by them. They rolled in quietly, odorlessly and tastelessly, eating away bits of brain cells and nervous systems as they did. The chemicals made people crazy before they killed them. There were crazy people running around all over the place. Lots of them. Millions of them.

Taylor had been with him that morning in the CO’s office in Helsinki when they first heard of the so-called “Leningrad Ruse.” It was early, bleak fall and the low, rolling gray clouds, distended with gas, were dropping a lethal acid rain onto ground already barren and dead from floating poisons. They were forced to go around for weeks at a time in their gas gear, speaking to one another through mikes in their masks.

So it was on that morning when they stood in a tiny office with a man from Special Projects named Captain Berrigan. At least, that’s what he said his name was. Berrigan never took off his mask, not even in the relative safety of that secured bunker. Plissken had always thought that to be a shame, for he never got to see what the man looked like; and he had thought for a long time that he would certainly have liked to find Captain Berrigan and gut him with his buck knife.

Captain Berrigan had told them that one of the Allies’ top Intelligence officers had been taken prisoner by the Ruskies and was being detained in Leningrad. He said that they had to go in and get him out before the man revealed secrets vital to the entire war effort. Plissken’s squad had been especially picked because of their phenomenal record. It was a great honor.

Neither he nor Taylor thought much of the plan; it sounded too much like suicide. But duty was duty. So early the nest morning, they went low over the Baltic Sea and hit Leningrad with the sun. There were fifty of them in Gulffire gliders screaming in at rooftop level, while air support drew fire on the east side of the city.

Leningrad was the Ruskie supply point, and was consequently the most heavily defended city in western Russia. Plissken and his people flew into the maelstrom, and it was far worse than any human mind could possibly imagine. He remembered it mostly as oranges-burning, sizzling oranges-screaming fire flowers.

Success was impossible. Survival nearly so. When it was clear to Plissken that they couldn’t get the man out, they plastic charged the building that he was being held in and buried him under five hundred tons of rock and plaster.

Sometime during the fighting a frag cracked Plissken’s left goggle, and the nerve gas went to work on his eye. Somehow he ordered the withdrawal and got back to base. It was like his whole head was on fire, bright orange fire. When the gliders touched down again, there were only two of them left. Just two.

He spent a month in the hospital before they even let Taylor come visit. The man was in a leg cast; his knee had been shattered in a crash landing getting back into Helsinki. He was pale like an albino when he came in, and his eyes were just as red.

“It was all a trick,” Taylor said to him there in that sterile hospital room. “A lousy, *beep* trick.”

It turned out that the “Intelligence officer” was actually a corporal in masquerade who let himself be captured to give false information. Plissken’s squad had been sent in just to lend the whole thing an air of authenticity. To make matters worse, it didn’t work. The man hadn’t fooled them for a minute.

Snake Plissken’s life began to change at that exact instant.

Plissken walked alone down the deserted airstrip toward the distant hangar, the hangar lights casting long, shimmering reflections on the lonely puddles beneath his feet.

There wasn’t a blackbelly in sight. Normally, that would have made him happy, but the fact that he was left unguarded made him feel that they accepted him as one of them. He couldn’t think of a single thing more disgusting to him in the whole world. It also tended to reinforce Hauk’s assertion that they actually had planted bombs within him.

There he was, Snake Plissken, going back off to war. Of course, he had never stopped going off to war. Every hour of every day of his life, Snake Plissken fought his battles. Sometimes they were internal, and sometimes they were wild and freewheeling like at the Federal Reserve. But the feelings were just the same.

None of it made any sense to him. What was one President more or less? What was one summit meeting? It was a President who decorated him after Leningrad, a President who thought he could buy his love and loyalty with a cheap slug of bronze and a bit of colored ribbon. It meant nothing to him. Less than nothing.

That was a different President, of course. How many had there been since - four, five? It didn’t matter; there were plenty more where those came from. When the medals didn’t buy him off, they offered him a high position in the fledgling USPF. When that didn’t work, they cut him loose, just gave him a discharge and sent him home.

Home.

Orange fire.

They had sent him home, but there wasn’t a home to go to. Some crazies had taken his home and held his parents hostage. The USPF didn’t care a whole lot about that; they just went in with their flamethrowers and took out everybody. They buried his parents together in a paupers’ grave, then the state took away all their savings. They tied them all together with the criminals and said that their money would be used for “restitution.”

The day that Snake Plissken came home, he blew up a state vehicle with a Molotov cocktail. It was the only thing that made him feel any better. He had done something of the like every day since then.

He felt the anger bolt through him and fought it back down. He needed his wits about him now.

It sometimes occurred to him that maybe he was crazy like the rest of them. Although crazy people, it seemed, would not realize that they were crazy. Everything would seem perfectly logical and natural to them. That was the one feeling that made him think he was still shuffling the right deck. He could look around him and know, really know, how out of control the whole business was."