(OOC) Army of Darkness Plug Post
Mar. 31st, 2009 01:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deaditegoskwishX-posted from the mun journal - I figure it's worth having about for canon refference :)
Army of Darkness: Ye Olde Post O' Pimpage
By Lady Miss Missy
Ye Olde General Infoe: Army of Darkness, third film in the Evil Dead trilogy. Released in 1993, has since gained a big cult following. If you know cult film or geek culture, you're probably at least a little familiar with the frequently-quoted lines: "Gimmie some sugar, baby," "THIS IS MY BOOMSTICK", etc., al. You've probably bumped into it on TV before, boggled, and flicked the channel, right?
Well, lemme stay your wrist and explain why the hell I've become so crack addicted to this movie.
Ye Olde Quicke Summarie: Briefly, it's an action-comedy-horror-romance-whathaveya rollercoster in which a hapless housewares employee-slash-college student named Ash (don't call him Ashley), who accidentally raises the living dead (repeatedly), and ultimately makes the journey from cowardice to self-assurance. In the meantime, things Blow Up Real Good, and Ash gets Abused Real Good in the process of overcoming the quite literal representation of his inner demons to claim his manhood and reclaim his sanity.
Don't ask how a boy from urban Michigan learned how to ride a horse. You'll just hurt yourself in the process.
This is Ashley "Ash" J. Williams, as portrayed by Bruce Campbell. The movie's beginning does a neat job of summarizing what's happened to Ash in Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2, but it leaves out some nuance due to streamlining (and the fact that they eliminated three characters due to budgetary concerns; WARNING: this canon can be a pain in the ass to summarize because of all of the retconning).
In short: Ash's sister, girlfriend, best friend, and best friend's girlfriend were all posessed by demonic forces (specifically, Kandarian demons), and Ash was forced to save himself by killing their now-undead corporal forms. In the process, he was temporarily posessed, went mad for a wee while, witnessed a flock of newcomers to the cabin get killed in a variety of ways, hacked off his independently-posessed right hand at the wrist with a chainsaw, and eventually - with the help of his other sole survivor Annie Knowby -turned said chainsaw into a limb for himself and tried to confront the evil that once posessed him. Unfortunately, a mistake in the incantation process sent him back in time to Britian, 1300 AD and results in Ash's rogue hand stabbing Annie to death. Turns out Ash's the prophecied "Chosen One," destined (to his horror) to fight the menace of the Deadites for the rest of his life.
For those of you who're curious: here's what Ash looks like when he arrives in Medieval England, and is a good example of his stock costume (blue workshirt, brown pants, work boots, black-banded watch with large face upon it. No word on the underwear). Notice the scars he's inherited from his trials. Besides the chainsaw, he has a sawed-off Remmington shotgun.
Ash's experiences have changed him from a slightly-geeky engineering student to a sarcastic, rash and flip (and yet still kinda cowardly) warrior. Don't look for the people who actually wrote the canon to help you out on how that happened, as none of them can agree on whether or not this movie's actually IC for him :p People have a tendancy to miss-characterize him as an idiot (his creators will do this aloud in commentaries), but really - he's an engineering student who teaches Medieval Pesants how to make gunpowder and has enough skill in the realm of drafting to be able to turn his car into an armored tank.
His ultimate fate? It's like a choose-your-own-adventure-story: either he ends up in London after a nuclear holocaust (and presumably dies of radiation poisioning *wise nod*) or he ends up back in Michigan, where he's still defending the world from the occasional Deadite and finally gets lucky with a girl who looks creepily like his dead girlfriend.
This is Lady Sheila, as portrayed by future Oscar nominee Embeth Davidtz. Sheila's in some position of power at Kandar Castle, though it's never explicitly spelled out what she's doing there. She jumps to the conclusion that Ash's a member of Duke Henry's invading army, which killed her brother in battle, and quickly lusts for Ash's blood. After realizing her mistake, she tries to make ammends with him and - after his angry rejection - she and Ash make and then fall in love. This ends up getting her kidnapped and eventually raped by Ash's evil twin, temporarily posessed by a demon (which makes her look like this), and ultimately left behind in the thirteen hundreds.
Sheila is fiesty, headstrong and believes strongly in justice, but isn't afraid to appologize for her mistakes. In the extended canon of the comics, she's rather posessive of Ash, and is easily riled to jealousy if another woman expresses interest in him. There are plenty of hints that she might make a very strong warrior in her own right, as the rock she pitches at Ash's head has enough force behind it to knock him off-balance and nearly into the pit. She's also a talented seamstress.
Please don't believe wikipedia, which actually says that Sheila's supposed to be Arthur's daughter. Yeah, check out the picture of Arthur below and tell me that someonethis young-seeming could be a kid of someone as young-looking as...
Lord Arthur, as portrayed by Marcus Gilbert. Pity poor Arthur - these used to be HIS lands and HE used to be the leader, until Ash showed up and promptly humilated him. Think of the poor guy as a walking *facepalm*, because that's his basic mental status throughout the film.
Arthur has a magical sword (which Ash ends up shooting in half) and has been at war with the Scottish forces led by Duke Henry for some time. It's unclear what his relationship to Sheila is; they address each other formally, which means they likely AREN'T RELATED BY BLOOD, PEOPLE. :p
And no, Arthur isn't Arthur Pendragon - his character is REFFERENTIAL to the King Arthur myth, but his actually being THAT Arthur is disproved simply by the fact that that the movie's set in 1300 and the Pendragon legend is many centuries older than that.
This is Duke Henry of Shale. Henry is a somewhat sardonic leader of the Scotch forces who've been at war with the people of Kandar Castle for an unknown length of time. In spite of their rocky start, Henry eventually takes a shine to Ash, and often calls him "lad", and eventually rides to the rescue and saves Arthur's bacon, and eventually embraces his former foe in victory, uniting their kingdoms, which are promptly offered up to Ash for ruling. (Don't ask how that could happen, as Edward the I was king of England back then and....urgh, headache...)
This is The Wise Man, or Wiseman John, as portrayed by Ian Abercrombie. He's the first to realize that Ash is the prophecied Chosen One, and places his faith in Kandar's salvation in the "Hero from the Sky". Ash, unfortunately, manages to forget a word, much to The Wiseman's irritation.
The Wiseman is Kandar's figurehead of magic, and is a master of potions.
Our villian, ladies and gents! Evil Ash, as portrayed by Bruce Campbell. Evil Ash is the exergis of Ash's madness and is the embodiment of his negative energy, which haunts a mirror universe thanks to the Necronomicon's magic. He comes into being after Ash shatters a mirror, releasing a bunch of miniature copies of himself who knock him out, tie him to the floor, and force him to swallow miniature versions of himself. Though Ash tries to purge them (you thought I was kidding about the boiling water, didn't you?), one of the tiny Ash's turns into a Normal Sized Ash, which painfully splits from Ash's shoulder and emerges as a sepparate entity. Original Recipe Ash responds by shooting Evil Ash in the face, chopping him up with a chainsaw, and burying him. Unfortunately, when Ash screws up the magic words, Evil Ash returns to life and promptly takes charge of the undead army Ash has accidentally raised. He kidnaps Sheila, turns her into his undead queen, and marches on Arthur's castle. Is killed by Ash, who blows him up with gunpowder and catapults him into the night sky.
Ye Olde Reasones For Loving Thyse Flyke: One word: Slaphorror. The movie's positively outlandish, impossible to take seriously, and yet provides a really intriguing and thoughtful and RICH story to play with.
Ash has depth; his story over the three movies really is of learned bravery and attained adulthood, of the defeat of wickedness despite his overconfidence. That's why I prefer the second ending; he learns something.
Also? The women? Are kickass. Without the women in this story, Ash would be toast, insane or dead. It's Linda's memory and his love for her that encouraged his return from hell; it's Annie who helps him get his ass in gear to defeat the Deadites; and Sheila - well, she gives him a dressing-down that makes him look like this. Do NOT piss off Sheila.
You'll laugh a lot, and if you're like me, think perhaps a bit too much. If you delve into the fandom, you'll spend a lot of time researching dialects, food, birth control for Medieval maidens - you will facepalm and wonder where ol' King Edward went to. The period details will fascinate you. You'll wanna keep building with and playing with these characters, 'cause there's something extra there that just didn't quite come out in canon and you'll want to play with. It's a struggle, but it's rewarding. Trust me.
Dynamite Comics/Dark Horse publishes an Army of Darkness comic, and I like it enough to consider it a worthy addendum to canon. I rather preffer the earlier arcs, versus the later ones, where they siphon out a lot of the movie's humor in an attempt to capitolize on the success of Marvel Zombies. It hits notes of bathos (at one point Ash dies after being crucified by his evil twin on an electric pole) and it has OCs that make you want to groan, and really, Sheila's lips shouldn't BE that big, and were would she figure out how to make a leather boustier - but you will ignore it.
In the extended canon, Ash and Sheila are portrayed as soul mates, "The Chosen one and his Chosen Lady". In current comic canon, Ash has decided to sacrifice he own personal pleasure to go guard the Nec in the wilderness.
This canon is not to be confused with the Evil Dead reboot, in which the Ash/Cheryl relationship is retconned, or Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash, which has an entirely different continuity.
Click for bigger versions; caps courtesy of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gypsyjr and weasleytook
Ash about to send Evil Ash to his maker - guh, BC's eyes...
He's a thousand times dirtier in this shot than in any other shot in the rest of the scene, but the expression kills me. It's so ASH.
One of my favorite shots in the whole film. Once again - Eyes!
Requisite 'Ship picture. They're so GOOFY here...
This picture is simply entitled "Unf" in my folder. I think that says it all ;)
Embeth Davitdz is gorgeous, and this picture proves it.
So does this one...
Okay, one more 'ship picture! Shoot me for it!
Ye Olde Resources and Actual Pympying:
Where You Can Watch It: Army of Darkness is availible in forty million different versions on DVD; if you're into Ash/Sheila, the director's cut is worth your while, because it includes the Love Scene that gets edited out of the theatrical cut. The theatrical cut's availible for about ten bucks retail.
Research: Deadites Online is your best AOD and Evil Dead source in general - original scripts for the films, the alternate ending to AOD and the film's trailer are all stored here.
Pictures:gypsyjr's a screencap goddess: her AOD gallery is lovely. Also, weasleytook's screencaps are up on the Army of Darkness fanlisting. Deadites Online also as a variety of caps.
Fanfiction: Fic in this fandom is absolutely a crapshoot when it comes to quality. There's currently NO centralized fandom, but the best pieces include:
Farewell, by Danii DeBrabant. You will read this and you will smile, or weep, or possibly do both, but I'm a sucker for AshSheila and thus my opinion's skewed ;)
Evil Dead: The Complete Novelization by Apollomasque - good, solid Ash POV work that adds great depth to Ash's personality.
Sunny Meadows Prelude by Shannon C. Redfield: I admit I sniffled while reading this one.
OmarSnake's Evil Dead: The Series which is very IC and excellent genfic.
Supermarket Creep bygypsyjr: My favorite AOD-based crossover; AOD and Psych.
Also,gypsyjr roleplays as Ash and her characterization of him is wonderful - I consider many of the threads contained in that journal's memory section as good as if not better than most of the AOD fic out there.
Ye Olde Thank-Yous: Thank you togypsyjr for letting me snag and use caps from her journal for this manifesto.
Army of Darkness: Ye Olde Post O' Pimpage
By Lady Miss Missy
Ye Olde General Infoe: Army of Darkness, third film in the Evil Dead trilogy. Released in 1993, has since gained a big cult following. If you know cult film or geek culture, you're probably at least a little familiar with the frequently-quoted lines: "Gimmie some sugar, baby," "THIS IS MY BOOMSTICK", etc., al. You've probably bumped into it on TV before, boggled, and flicked the channel, right?
Well, lemme stay your wrist and explain why the hell I've become so crack addicted to this movie.
Ye Olde Quicke Summarie: Briefly, it's an action-comedy-horror-romance-whathaveya rollercoster in which a hapless housewares employee-slash-college student named Ash (don't call him Ashley), who accidentally raises the living dead (repeatedly), and ultimately makes the journey from cowardice to self-assurance. In the meantime, things Blow Up Real Good, and Ash gets Abused Real Good in the process of overcoming the quite literal representation of his inner demons to claim his manhood and reclaim his sanity.
Don't ask how a boy from urban Michigan learned how to ride a horse. You'll just hurt yourself in the process.
This is Ashley "Ash" J. Williams, as portrayed by Bruce Campbell. The movie's beginning does a neat job of summarizing what's happened to Ash in Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2, but it leaves out some nuance due to streamlining (and the fact that they eliminated three characters due to budgetary concerns; WARNING: this canon can be a pain in the ass to summarize because of all of the retconning).
In short: Ash's sister, girlfriend, best friend, and best friend's girlfriend were all posessed by demonic forces (specifically, Kandarian demons), and Ash was forced to save himself by killing their now-undead corporal forms. In the process, he was temporarily posessed, went mad for a wee while, witnessed a flock of newcomers to the cabin get killed in a variety of ways, hacked off his independently-posessed right hand at the wrist with a chainsaw, and eventually - with the help of his other sole survivor Annie Knowby -turned said chainsaw into a limb for himself and tried to confront the evil that once posessed him. Unfortunately, a mistake in the incantation process sent him back in time to Britian, 1300 AD and results in Ash's rogue hand stabbing Annie to death. Turns out Ash's the prophecied "Chosen One," destined (to his horror) to fight the menace of the Deadites for the rest of his life.
For those of you who're curious: here's what Ash looks like when he arrives in Medieval England, and is a good example of his stock costume (blue workshirt, brown pants, work boots, black-banded watch with large face upon it. No word on the underwear). Notice the scars he's inherited from his trials. Besides the chainsaw, he has a sawed-off Remmington shotgun.
Ash's experiences have changed him from a slightly-geeky engineering student to a sarcastic, rash and flip (and yet still kinda cowardly) warrior. Don't look for the people who actually wrote the canon to help you out on how that happened, as none of them can agree on whether or not this movie's actually IC for him :p People have a tendancy to miss-characterize him as an idiot (his creators will do this aloud in commentaries), but really - he's an engineering student who teaches Medieval Pesants how to make gunpowder and has enough skill in the realm of drafting to be able to turn his car into an armored tank.
His ultimate fate? It's like a choose-your-own-adventure-story: either he ends up in London after a nuclear holocaust (and presumably dies of radiation poisioning *wise nod*) or he ends up back in Michigan, where he's still defending the world from the occasional Deadite and finally gets lucky with a girl who looks creepily like his dead girlfriend.
This is Lady Sheila, as portrayed by future Oscar nominee Embeth Davidtz. Sheila's in some position of power at Kandar Castle, though it's never explicitly spelled out what she's doing there. She jumps to the conclusion that Ash's a member of Duke Henry's invading army, which killed her brother in battle, and quickly lusts for Ash's blood. After realizing her mistake, she tries to make ammends with him and - after his angry rejection - she and Ash make and then fall in love. This ends up getting her kidnapped and eventually raped by Ash's evil twin, temporarily posessed by a demon (which makes her look like this), and ultimately left behind in the thirteen hundreds.
Sheila is fiesty, headstrong and believes strongly in justice, but isn't afraid to appologize for her mistakes. In the extended canon of the comics, she's rather posessive of Ash, and is easily riled to jealousy if another woman expresses interest in him. There are plenty of hints that she might make a very strong warrior in her own right, as the rock she pitches at Ash's head has enough force behind it to knock him off-balance and nearly into the pit. She's also a talented seamstress.
Please don't believe wikipedia, which actually says that Sheila's supposed to be Arthur's daughter. Yeah, check out the picture of Arthur below and tell me that someonethis young-seeming could be a kid of someone as young-looking as...
Lord Arthur, as portrayed by Marcus Gilbert. Pity poor Arthur - these used to be HIS lands and HE used to be the leader, until Ash showed up and promptly humilated him. Think of the poor guy as a walking *facepalm*, because that's his basic mental status throughout the film.
Arthur has a magical sword (which Ash ends up shooting in half) and has been at war with the Scottish forces led by Duke Henry for some time. It's unclear what his relationship to Sheila is; they address each other formally, which means they likely AREN'T RELATED BY BLOOD, PEOPLE. :p
And no, Arthur isn't Arthur Pendragon - his character is REFFERENTIAL to the King Arthur myth, but his actually being THAT Arthur is disproved simply by the fact that that the movie's set in 1300 and the Pendragon legend is many centuries older than that.
This is Duke Henry of Shale. Henry is a somewhat sardonic leader of the Scotch forces who've been at war with the people of Kandar Castle for an unknown length of time. In spite of their rocky start, Henry eventually takes a shine to Ash, and often calls him "lad", and eventually rides to the rescue and saves Arthur's bacon, and eventually embraces his former foe in victory, uniting their kingdoms, which are promptly offered up to Ash for ruling. (Don't ask how that could happen, as Edward the I was king of England back then and....urgh, headache...)
This is The Wise Man, or Wiseman John, as portrayed by Ian Abercrombie. He's the first to realize that Ash is the prophecied Chosen One, and places his faith in Kandar's salvation in the "Hero from the Sky". Ash, unfortunately, manages to forget a word, much to The Wiseman's irritation.
The Wiseman is Kandar's figurehead of magic, and is a master of potions.
Our villian, ladies and gents! Evil Ash, as portrayed by Bruce Campbell. Evil Ash is the exergis of Ash's madness and is the embodiment of his negative energy, which haunts a mirror universe thanks to the Necronomicon's magic. He comes into being after Ash shatters a mirror, releasing a bunch of miniature copies of himself who knock him out, tie him to the floor, and force him to swallow miniature versions of himself. Though Ash tries to purge them (you thought I was kidding about the boiling water, didn't you?), one of the tiny Ash's turns into a Normal Sized Ash, which painfully splits from Ash's shoulder and emerges as a sepparate entity. Original Recipe Ash responds by shooting Evil Ash in the face, chopping him up with a chainsaw, and burying him. Unfortunately, when Ash screws up the magic words, Evil Ash returns to life and promptly takes charge of the undead army Ash has accidentally raised. He kidnaps Sheila, turns her into his undead queen, and marches on Arthur's castle. Is killed by Ash, who blows him up with gunpowder and catapults him into the night sky.
Ye Olde Reasones For Loving Thyse Flyke: One word: Slaphorror. The movie's positively outlandish, impossible to take seriously, and yet provides a really intriguing and thoughtful and RICH story to play with.
Ash has depth; his story over the three movies really is of learned bravery and attained adulthood, of the defeat of wickedness despite his overconfidence. That's why I prefer the second ending; he learns something.
Also? The women? Are kickass. Without the women in this story, Ash would be toast, insane or dead. It's Linda's memory and his love for her that encouraged his return from hell; it's Annie who helps him get his ass in gear to defeat the Deadites; and Sheila - well, she gives him a dressing-down that makes him look like this. Do NOT piss off Sheila.
You'll laugh a lot, and if you're like me, think perhaps a bit too much. If you delve into the fandom, you'll spend a lot of time researching dialects, food, birth control for Medieval maidens - you will facepalm and wonder where ol' King Edward went to. The period details will fascinate you. You'll wanna keep building with and playing with these characters, 'cause there's something extra there that just didn't quite come out in canon and you'll want to play with. It's a struggle, but it's rewarding. Trust me.
Dynamite Comics/Dark Horse publishes an Army of Darkness comic, and I like it enough to consider it a worthy addendum to canon. I rather preffer the earlier arcs, versus the later ones, where they siphon out a lot of the movie's humor in an attempt to capitolize on the success of Marvel Zombies. It hits notes of bathos (at one point Ash dies after being crucified by his evil twin on an electric pole) and it has OCs that make you want to groan, and really, Sheila's lips shouldn't BE that big, and were would she figure out how to make a leather boustier - but you will ignore it.
In the extended canon, Ash and Sheila are portrayed as soul mates, "The Chosen one and his Chosen Lady". In current comic canon, Ash has decided to sacrifice he own personal pleasure to go guard the Nec in the wilderness.
This canon is not to be confused with the Evil Dead reboot, in which the Ash/Cheryl relationship is retconned, or Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash, which has an entirely different continuity.
Click for bigger versions; caps courtesy of
gypsyjr and weasleytook
Ash about to send Evil Ash to his maker - guh, BC's eyes...
He's a thousand times dirtier in this shot than in any other shot in the rest of the scene, but the expression kills me. It's so ASH.
One of my favorite shots in the whole film. Once again - Eyes!
Requisite 'Ship picture. They're so GOOFY here...
This picture is simply entitled "Unf" in my folder. I think that says it all ;)
Embeth Davitdz is gorgeous, and this picture proves it.
So does this one...
Okay, one more 'ship picture! Shoot me for it!
Ye Olde Resources and Actual Pympying:
Where You Can Watch It: Army of Darkness is availible in forty million different versions on DVD; if you're into Ash/Sheila, the director's cut is worth your while, because it includes the Love Scene that gets edited out of the theatrical cut. The theatrical cut's availible for about ten bucks retail.
Research: Deadites Online is your best AOD and Evil Dead source in general - original scripts for the films, the alternate ending to AOD and the film's trailer are all stored here.
Pictures:
gypsyjr's a screencap goddess: her AOD gallery is lovely. Also, weasleytook's screencaps are up on the Army of Darkness fanlisting. Deadites Online also as a variety of caps.Fanfiction: Fic in this fandom is absolutely a crapshoot when it comes to quality. There's currently NO centralized fandom, but the best pieces include:
Farewell, by Danii DeBrabant. You will read this and you will smile, or weep, or possibly do both, but I'm a sucker for AshSheila and thus my opinion's skewed ;)
Evil Dead: The Complete Novelization by Apollomasque - good, solid Ash POV work that adds great depth to Ash's personality.
Sunny Meadows Prelude by Shannon C. Redfield: I admit I sniffled while reading this one.
OmarSnake's Evil Dead: The Series which is very IC and excellent genfic.
Supermarket Creep by
gypsyjr: My favorite AOD-based crossover; AOD and Psych.Also,
gypsyjr roleplays as Ash and her characterization of him is wonderful - I consider many of the threads contained in that journal's memory section as good as if not better than most of the AOD fic out there.Ye Olde Thank-Yous: Thank you to
gypsyjr for letting me snag and use caps from her journal for this manifesto.
