Swamp Thing: Up From the Muck

THE PILOT EPISODE of the USA Network series "Swamp Thing" is one of the weirdest half-hours of television ever.

It opens with the arresting image of a dwarf hanging upside down from a pole in the middle of a swamp, then introduces a hitman who turns into a tree and a yuppie mad scientist whose idea of menacing involves forcing a prostitute to dance in a cave among his mutated experiments. The episode is woodenly acted, haphazardly edited, awkwardly paced, and outlandishly written.

It is, in short, incredibly entertaining, albeit a bizarre introduction to Shout! Factory's four-DVD set of the series' first two seasons, which features 22 episodes as well as interviews with creator Len Wein and actor Dick Durock.

Running from 1990 through 1993, "Swamp Thing" the television series was the third incarnation of the DC Comics half-man, half-plant hero.

Wes Craven wrote and directed a 1982 adaptation, which started strong but ended asinine. Seven years later, there surfaced a straight-to-video sequel, "Return of the Swamp Thing," which was notable for giving a starring role to Heather Locklear's breasts.

The only constant among these three productions is stuntman Durock, who manages the beast with soulfulness despite having to act beneath that bulky suit of moss and vines.

Most of these early episodes, however, give him very little to do besides baby-sitting the preteen protagonist Jim, who is inexplicably shipped off to a South American slave camp and forgotten. With frayed plot threads (poor Jim), dated fashions and silly B-movie self-seriousness, "Swamp Thing" proves as upstanding as its eco-warrior hero, a literal treehugger who hesitates to kill humans.

Like its title character, the show transformed rapidly. Nine episodes into the series, the writers cry do-over. They ship off old characters, write in new and attractive ones (including Kari Wuhrer of Sliders fame), ratchet up the special effects, and in the process create a serviceable sci-fi franchise.

If the cult show loses some of its goofy charm in the process, it compensates with suspenseful storylines that find a little bit of the human in the humanoid.

Written by Express contributor Stephen M. Deusner
Image courtesy Shout! Factory