“Put the screw to villainy.”
The Civil War era superhero makes the transition from comic book to animated head of action in this adventure. The sad part is that we’re only treated to one adventure of this smart (potential) series.
It’s 1862, and the curator of the Museum of Dangerous Books and Papers has been kidnapped by the fiendish Emperor Zombie (David Hyde Pierce). It seems that the curator is the key to finding an artifact that would allow world domination. President Abraham Lincoln (Corey Burton) calls in the Amazing Screw-On Head (Paul Giamatti) to stop Zombie’s nefarious plan.
Mr. Groin and the Amazing Screw-on Head
However, Screw-On has other problems since one of Zombie’s agents is Patience (Molly Shannon), who was once Screw-On’s love but is now a vampire. Will Screw-On save the world or will he (I can’t resist) screw it up?
The Amazing Screw-On Head is the creation of comic genius Mike Mignola (the creator of Hellboy). Screw-On Head is just that. He’s a head with a threaded end that allows him to “screw on” to various mechanical bodies. Emperor Zombie is his nemesis but was also his manservant and has a fetish for killing the manservant’s that Screw-On has replaced him with. This comes as both a shock and surprise to Screw-On’s current manservant, Mr. Groin (Patton Oswalt).
The show is both smart and irreverent. It has a wicked sense of humor as well as reminding me of both steam punk and the Wild Wild West television show (the good original not that sucky Will Smith movie). The problem is that this is only one episode and it runs 22 minutes.
Sadly, it appears that it has not yet been picked up as a series (the pilot aired on the Sci-Fi Channel) so I can only report that one episode is on the disc instead of a full season. To make up for the short running time they’ve added some special features to fill the bill.
Emperor Zombie
The Amazing Screw-On Head is presented in both fullscreen and anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 televisions. You’ll be asked which version you want to see when you hit the play button.
Special features include a commentary by director Chris Prynoski and writer/executive producer Bryan Fuller. First up is the 2 minute “Storyboard Comparison” that shows you a scene in several stages of development. “From Comic to Cartoon: Making the Amazing Screw-On Head” runs 13 minutes.
It has interviews with creator Mike Mignola, Bryan Fuller, Chris Prynoski, executive producer Jason Netter, producer Susan Norkin, title sequence animator Richard Pose, background designer Antonio Canobbio, storyboard artist Juno Lee. You also get to see Paul Giamatti, David Hyde Pierce, Patton Oswalt, and Molly Shannon at work in the vocal booth. Finally there are previews for other Lionsgate DVDs. The case also contains a collector’s booklet with introduction by Mignola and illustrations by Guy Davis and Mignola.
The Amazing Screw-On Head is, well, amazing. I thought it rocked. Fans of the original comic or of Mike Mignola will be delighted. What’s disappointing is that they were only able to make this one episode and, as far as I’m aware, there’s no sign of a series on the horizon. Maybe if you nice people will buy up lots of DVDs then there will be one? Pretty please?
Screw-on gets his orders from the Commander in Chief
The Amazing Screw-On Head is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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