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[DVD Review] ‘Skeleton Warriors’
THE GLORIOUS DARKNESS!
After Captain Power And The Soldiers Of The Future failed to take off (which is a shame, considering it was the most ambitious children’s show OF ALL TIME), Landmark Entertainment went back to working on the great theme park attractions they’re known for while secondarily thinking up new concepts to pitch to the networks. When Gary Goddard brought his godson to see the final performance of the Conan stunt show at Universal Hollywood back in 1993, the three-year-old was enamored with the skeleton soldiers onstage. Since Goddard had fond childhood memories of Ray Harryhausen’s work in Jason And The Argonauts and similar warriors resonated with his godson who was a few generations younger, the skeleton imagery seemed timeless and powerful. Thus, Skeleton Warriors was born. Goddard and his team work endlessly on their pitch, creating tons of art and maquettes to bring to Toy Fair. During the convention, the show was picked up by CBS, and licensing rights started being snatched up left and right. The toy sculpts, as well as the giant skeleton suit that roamed around Toy Fair, created a lot of buzz for the He-Man-like property due to the amount of detail put into them (this was a Pre-Spawn world), and Playmates started production soon after.
Debuting in 1994 as part of the Action Zone hour, Skeleton Warriors was ambitious and unlike other Saturday morning programming at the time. The show had bookends featuring a floating CGI skeleton head as host who posed the moral dilemma of the episode, each of which focused on the ongoing struggle between the Legion Of Light and Baron Dark’s Skeleton Warriors over the Lightstar Crystal. Captain Power was the first children’s show to heavily incorporate CGI, and the original plan was to have Skeleton Warriors be entirely CGI. If CBS had committed to the show a few weeks earlier, the plan would have gone through but because of time constraints, the show went the traditional 2D route, with the bookends hinting at what might have been.
‘Are you part of the problem or the solution?” is the big question posed by the series, and the better than average writing staff elevated Skeleton Warriors from being normal Saturday morning fluff. The individual “lessons” posed in each episode are also handled well, but they are meant to be watched in order, as there are actual character arcs and a central storyline that runs throughout.
Sadly, the series would only last a season due to a number of reasons. CBS shuffled the show around a lot, and it never played in the same time slot more than three times in a row. Years later, Fox would pick up this habit and cancel Arrested Development. Skeleton Warriors was also really dark and violent for a children’s Saturday morning cartoon. But, the biggest factor in the show’s cancelation was the toy line. While they were highly detailed and pretty spectacular looking, Playmates decided to only release the villains in the first wave, leaving kids to only play with the bad guys. By the time three of the heroes were released, the show was ka-put. Talon, the lone female protagonist, was never released, as were several incredible designs lined up the second series. Even the Sega Saturn (WOAH!) and Playstation game came out after the series was canceled. To Goddard’s credit, him and his crew managed to wrap things up (for the most part) at the end of the season, so the story feels concluded rather than abandoned.
Skeleton Warriors was short-lived and heavily borrows from Masters Of The Universe (Guardian is practically the same character as Man-At-Arms), but it holds up surprisingly well and is a blast to watch. The character design is mind-blowing, the animation is great in that 90’s action cartoon sort of way, and the fact that the episodes need to be watched chronologically make it more satisfying than it ought to be. The copious amounts of stylized violence and cheesy one-liners – and there are A LOT – just make it that much better.
A/V
The transfer is kind of disappointing. Judging from how it looks, I imagine most of the masters were stowed away in someone’s attic, or a cabinet in a storage unit. The video quality changes between each episode, with some looking particularly crisp – especially the first episode – but most are washed out and soft in appearance, which is a shame because the character design for the show is really, really impressive. Audio, on the other hand, is very strong. The score has some haunting bits, and the theme song is about as ridiculously awesome as you remember.
Special Features
Commentary – There are two commentary tracks included in the two-disc set, and both are pretty dry. Series creator Gary Goddard chats on the pilot episode, but gives little insight into the episode and instead narrates it. Co-producer Robert DeLapp talks over ‘Past Perfect, Future Tense,’ and doesn’t say anything much of interest either.
Bad To The Bone: The Making Of Skeleton Warriors (29:54) – Here’s the meat and potatoes of the bonus features. The nearly thirty minute behind-the-scenes doc starts with that fateful trip to the Conan stunt show, and goes through a lot of concept art that I wish I had hanging on my wall, including the Drew Struzan painting that adorns the DVD cover, which he has for sale on his website for $95,000. The show’s history is really interesting, and they go through a lot of the changes it had over its production. Goddard even drags out a few figures that never made it into mass-production, and chats about what would’ve happened if they aired past the first season. What really makes this doc special is that towards the end, the creative and writing teams discuss why the show didn’t work, and since more than fifteen years have passed, they’re very clear-headed about the situation and give some real insight into Skeleton Warriors’ cancellation.
Score: 3.5/5
Home Video
‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]
Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.
Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.
Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.
And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.
While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.
Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.
Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!
Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.
Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.
Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!
More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.
So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.
If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.
Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.
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