Tuesday, August 7, 2018

From Comics to Toons: The Amazing Screw-On Head (2006)

A disembodied robot head that answers to President Abraham Lincoln? Weird, isn't it?

Weird, then, defines writer-artist Mike Mignola, who's made his base at Dark Horse Comics over the last 20-odd years with a self-created universe of bizarre characters, including Hellboy.

The Amazing Screw-On Head began as a 1-shot special from Dark Horse that was adapted for television by producer Bryan Fuller in 2006 for Sci-Fi (now SyFy). It's not so much steampunk as it is horror with an even more extreme twist. Fuller intended for this to go on to a series, but Sci-Fi passed on it. The character designs are lifted directly from the comic book version itself, and with the improvements in technology by this point, this made Marvel Comics' syndicated Marvel Super Heroes anthology package 40 years earlier look even more amateurish by comparison.

Despite a talented cast that included Paul Giamatti essaying the title role, supported by Patton Oswalt (The King of Queens), local product David Hyde Pierce (ex-Frasier), and Molly Shannon (ex-Saturday Night Live), and a faithful adaptation of Mignola's work, directed by long time MTV director Chris Prynoski, NBC-Universal suits may have felt this was too disturbing, too bizarre to go further. Considering that today, SyFy has three series based on comics on their roster, with Grant Morrison's Happy (w/Oswalt and Christopher Meloni) and the DC Comics series, Krypton, both renewed for season 2, and Image Comics' Deadly Class due to arrive next year, maybe Fuller & Mignola were ahead of the curve.

Fuller, by the way, is currently working on the current Star Trek: Discovery for CBS All Access, in case anyone wonders what he's been up to lately.

Right now, check out The Amazing Screw-On Head. I imagine it was rated TV-14 for violence and brief nudity.



Rating: B--.

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