Available at Amazon.com
Studio: Shout Factory
Release Date: January 22, 2008
Number of Discs: 4
Number of Episodes: 22
Running Time: 540 Minutes
MSRP: $39.99
Creators:
Tom Greene
Cast:
Dick Durock ……… Swamp Thing
Mark Lindsay Chapman ……… Dr. Anton Arcane
Carrell Myers ……… Tressa Kipp
Scott Garrison ……… Will Kipp
Jesse Zeigler ……… Jim Kipp
The show:
Swamp Thing: A Critique
Introduction: A History
Swamp Thing was a DC comic character created in 1971 by Len Wein and Berni Wrighston. However, it’s most infamous run came in the mid 80’s when comic maverick Alan Moore took over the series. In 1982 Wes Craven directed a Swamp Thing film and a sequel followed in 1989. This led to today’s discussion, the live action Swamp Thing TV Series that ran from 1990-1993, total of 72 issues. The DVD set in question contains the first 22 episodes. Actor/Stuntman Dick Durock played our hero in both films and the series.
It is also worth noting, before we continue, that the episodes in this collection appear in the order they were meant to be seen, not the order in which they originally aired.
The Characters:
While there are several reoccurring characters in the show, there are only two worth discussing here. We start, obviously, with out titular character, Swamp Thing. He started out as Dr. Alec Holland and was transformed in a chemical explosion. Now he hangs out in the swamps fighting evildoers who come to his neck of the woods (or swamp if you will). His powers include: controlling all the plants in the swamp, being able to heal people by touch and being able to turn people into trees as touch.
Every good hero has an arch nemesis. Swamp Thing as Dr. Arcane. He is a poor mans Dr. Moreau who comes off as Twin Peaks reject. He creates mutant human/animal hybrids and Swamp Thing thwarts his evil deeds at every turn. He’s more goofy than threatening and proves to be a very poor nemesis indeed.
Season 1: Wherein we discuss the pros and cons of the first 13 episodes.
It must first be noted that this show is all types of bad. It’s bad, dreadful, unpleasant and awful. At best it becomes so bad you’ll laugh out loud, at worst you’re just counting the seconds until it’s over.
This season subtitle should have been “A Boy and his Swamp Thing.” The story follows young Jim Kipp whose have trouble with his mom, Tressa. They move back to the swamp to live with Jim’s grandmother in hopes of rekindling their relationship. Here Jim meets Swamp Thing and becomes quick friends with him. In the second episode Jim’s grandmother dies leaving mom and son alone to fend off the forces of evil with only a Swamp Thing to save them. And that’s just what most of this season is: Jim getting in trouble and Swamp Thing saving him.
Each episode is only 22 minutes long which is nice cause one couldn’t take much more, but this doesn’t leave much room for plot development. You’re thrown into the action and it’s builds up to a conclusion that usually comes in the last 2 minutes.
I will give this season one thing. Despite the meager production value, the dreadful acting, the feebly written scripts and lacking plots, the season has a pretty shocking and surprising finally. I don’t want to give too much away, but episode 13 is our main character Jim’s last episode and he is replaced by his older half brother Will. The last episode almost makes up for the bush-league buffoonery that is the first twelve.
Season 2: Wherein we debate whether the second season was better or worse than the first.
As Season 2 opens, our new leading man, Will meets Abigail, a strange girl who turns out to have been born in a test tube. It turns out Arcane is trying to killer and Swamp Thing, or Swampy to Will, saves the day. As the season goes on the Swampy/Arcane battle continues to wage and some how each episode gets a little worse than the previous. The acting and stories spiral downward until the last episode where a guest star’s acting is so bad you can scarcely believe it.
Arcane’s character is expanded in this season in that he now has a wife in cryogenic stasis that he is trying to save and he now works for a mysterious man named only “The General” and now has a big underground base from which to work instead of the rock cave he had in the first season. Also in season 2, each episode starts ending with little sage nuggets of wisdom from Swampy as he trudges off back into the swamp which don’t seem sage like and lack any real wisdom.
While Season 1 is bad in it’s own right, season to manages to be worse which is, in some twisted way, kind of impressive.
Conclusion:
Swamp Thing is a fascinating comic book character that did not translate well to television. Apparently the show was originally slated to have 100 episodes, but it was canceled before it could reach that point. How it got past these two first seasons is beyond me. Going into the show I was hoping at the very least it would be cheesy good fun like the Hulk show from the 80’s. Swamp Thing made the Hulk look like the new Battlestar Galactica. This whole experience has been wholly disappointing and I would not wish it upon anyone.
Episodes:
Season One:
Disc One:
The Emerald Heart
Tressa and Jim move to live with her mother. Jim meets Swamp Thing and they become close friends. Swamp Thing helps patch things up between Jim and his mother. Jim takes meeting a talking planet with much stride.
Falco
One of Arcane’s failed experiments; a bird he turned mostly into a man (one of his arms is still a wing) tries to kill him at Jim’s grandmother’s funeral. Swamp Thing convinces him that lives are worth saving, not destroying.
Treasure
A thief is trying to hide millions of dollars from his female accomplice. He involves Jim and his mother putting their lives at risk and it’s up to Swamp Thing to save them.
From Beyond The Grave
Arcan tries to get Jim and his mom evicted because he wants their land but with some help from Swamp Thing and Jim’s grandmother (in his dreams) they find her will and save the day.
Blood Wind
Arcane’s assistant, with a lame blue eye patch, creates a hatred pheromone that gets on Tressa. It makes everyone near her want to kill her and only Swamp Thing knows how to make the antidote.
Grotesquery
Jim starts working for a local freak show and is shocked to discover that Swamp Thing as become part of the show. Now it’s Jim’s turn to save Swamp Thing.
New Acquaintance
Jim finally starts to make a friend, but the girl he chooses, Lily, may not be all she says she is.
Disc Two:
Natural Enemy
While exploring the swamp, Jim is bit by an insect mutated by Arcane and becomes deathly ill. While the doctors struggle to find a cure Swamp Thing steps in and� well you know the rest.
Sprit Of The Swamp
Arcane tricks a voodoo priest to help him take on Swamp Thing, but when Arcane turns on the priest he leans who the real villain is.
Legend Of The Swamp Maiden
Jim and Oboe camp out one night in the swamp in hopes of seeing the mysterious Swamp Maiden despite Swamp Things warnings and Oboe ends up turned to a grotesque frogman. Swamp Thing once again as to do what he does.
The Death of Dr. Arcane
Arcane has Jim kidnapped and also releases a horrible creature into the swamp. The creature in turn kills Dr. Arcane, however Swamp Thing must save his life in order to find out where Jim is.
The Living Image
Arcane uses plastic surgery to make a woman look just like Swamp Thing’s dead wife in order to trick him into getting Swamp Thing’s secret formula. However Swamp Things isn’t dumb enough to fall for a trick like that.
The Shipment
In this shocking episode Arcane kidnappes Jim again, only this time he sells him into slavery. But not before he calls his older half brother, Will for help. Will comes down, meets Swamp Thing, and together they vow to find Jim and stop Arcane. (Please note, neither of these things is accomplished in this DVD set, or even really mentioned after this episode.)
Season Two:
Disc Three:
Birthmarks
Abigail, a synthetic human runaway, escapes from an exploding boat and befriends Will who takes her in. Together Will and Swampy fight to rescue a baby that was also on the exploding boat.
The Dark Side Of The Mirror
Swamp Thing is framed for murder by Arcane and it’s up to him and Will to prove his innocence. They get help from an unlikely source.
Silent Screams
Arcane traps two women in an invisible force shield for no discernable reason and it’s up to Swamp Thing to figure out what the hell is going on and save the day.
Walk A Mile in My Shoots
Arcane uses a device to switch bodies with Swamp Thing in order to better examine his body. You can probably guess how this turns out.
The Watcher
Arcane’s latest villainous invention, hillbilly androids, go after Abigail and Swamp Thing yadda-yadda-yadda.
Disc Four:
The Hunt
Arcane invents an orchid with the ability to spew out toxic gasses and Abigail gets sick from it. Meanwhile Will’s dad shows up, working for Arcane, to find a different rare orchid in the swamp that is the only antidote.
Touch Of Death
Using the last of an experiment Swamp Thing was working on before he turned, Arcane kills a man and brings him back to life. Only everything he touches dies. He brushes Will giving him the same curse. Guess who has to the save the day, again?
Tremors Of The Heart
Swamp Thing has to stop Arcane’s latest devious plot, creating earthquakes.
The Prometheus Parabola
Tressa and Abigail get caught in the middle of a war between Arcane and the brother of a guy he killed. Will shows up to save the girls while Swamp Thing deals with the guys.
The Extras:
The Men Behind The Swamp Thing:There are two interviews here. The first is with Len Win the co-creator of Swamp Thing; the second is with Dick Durock the actor who played him. These are actually pretty interesting interviews. Len talks about the creation of the character and how he evolved over the years. Even talks about Alan Moore’s influence on the character. While Dick talks about how he got started in stunt work and what ultimately lead to him becoming Swamp Thing.
