The Chronicles of Riddick (franchise)
The Chronicles of Riddick is a science fiction series, spanning a number of films and video games. "The Chronicles of Riddick" is also the title of the second film in the series. The series follows the exploits of the character Richard B. Riddick and the universe in which they take place.
Films
Pitch Black
The first film of the series involved Riddick being transported to prison in a cargo spacecraft. When the spaceship is damaged in the wake of a comet and makes an emergency crash landing on an isolated desert planet, Riddick escapes. However, when predatory flying alien creatures begin attacking the survivors, Riddick joins forces with them to escape the planet. After the release of The Chronicles of Riddick, this film was renamed The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black. Since then all other media in the series has borne the "Chronicles of Riddick" branding.
Into Pitch Black
Into Pitch Black is a Sci-Fi channel special which aired before Pitch Black, and was about lawmen investigating Riddick's past as well as an investigation into the crash of the Hunter Gratzner (the spaceship from Pitch Black). It is a rarity now, and is only available on Region 2 copies of the Pitch Black DVD. It shows several inconsistencies with the official storyline, and might be possibly retconned by the other movies and video games.
Slam City
PITCHBLACK: Slam City is a short flash movie prequel to Pitch Black by animator Brian Murray with David Twohy which is available for download at the Pitch Black website.[1] Slam City is in the form of an official, confidential prison record detailing Riddick's arrival and escape from the Ursa Luna Slamcity Facility in eleven hours twenty-two minutes. Notably, it shows Riddick undergoing the surgery that gives him "eyeshine" -- the ability to see in the dark -- and paying for this with a pack of Kool cigarettes as mentioned in Pitch Black. Johns is seen at the end of the movie and is charged with capturing Riddick.
Some events have been retconned, however, for it is revealed in Butcher Bay that Riddick received them in a much different fashion. The rest of the video (his escape from Slam City) may be canon, though.[citation needed]
Dark Fury
Dark Fury was a short, made-for-DVD animated movie. It takes place shortly after Pitch Black and involves Riddick and the other two survivors of Pitch Black, Jack and Imam, and their run-in with a mercenary ship, as well as its captain who wishes to keep Riddick frozen as part of her collection of warriors from around the universe.
The Chronicles of Riddick
The third feature film in the series, The Chronicles of Riddick takes place five years after Dark Fury and involved Riddick's meeting with Jack and Imam, his escape from the prison planet Crematoria and his battle with the Necromonger fleet.
Possible sequels
According to a March 8, 2006 article on Comingsoon.net [2], Vin Diesel had stated he had written a storyline covering a trilogy beginning with the Chronicles of Riddick, and a sequel was already in the works. Another article on Comingsoon.net [3] written March 11, 2005 revealed more Diesel's intended arc: Chronicles 2 was to deal with The Underverse [4], while Chronicles 3 was to conclude the series with a return to Furya.
In a November 13, 2007 blogpost, writer/director David Twohy acknowledged that, aided by good numbers in DVD sales, sequels were still on the table. "But if another movie surfaces, it probably won’t be a Universal movie and probably will be an independent movie. Which means we’ll have to make it for substantially less than the last installment. But that’s okay. Pitch Black was $22 million all in. Maybe it’s time to go back to our roots – as we go on to The UnderVerse." [1]
On August 25, 2008, Vin Diesel told MTV News the Riddick sequels were an active project, with David Twohy currently writing the scripts. Said Diesel, "The only question is whether we take a page from the ‘Lord of the Rings’ guys and try to shoot the two chapters at the same time." [2]
On March 11th, 2009, Vin Told Gamespot that people would hear more about the movie soon and that the script is wrapping up and by the release of Dark Athena there would be news of it sprouting up [3]
Video Games
There are currently two video games based on the Riddick series, as well as one internet game.
Hunt For Riddick
The Hunt For Riddick is a point-and-click game on the Riddick official website [5] where the player plays a rookie mercenary hired by Toombs to research Riddick and possibly find his whereabouts. The game gives much information the Riddick universe and the player travels to a variety of locations. These include: Origin (a planet that little is known about but the game begins at and appears to be mostly a shipyard), Lupus Five (the planet Kyra joined mercenaries on), Helion Prime, Furya, Aquila Major, Crematoria, and U.V. 6.
Escape from Butcher Bay
Escape from Butcher Bay is a video game based on the Riddick series, released for the Xbox and Windows PC. It acts as a prequel to Pitch Black, and involves Riddick's escape from the eponymous prison, Butcher Bay.
Assault on Dark Athena
Assault on Dark Athena is a video game for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC. It includes an enhanced remake of Escape from Butcher Bay, as well as being a retelling of the events before Pitch Black.
Characters
Riddick
The series follows the exploits of the character Richard B. Riddick. Riddick is an escaped convict with exceptional hand to hand fighting skills and the ability to see in the dark. While sharing the spotlight in Pitch Black, Riddick went on to be the main protagonist of the series.
William J. Johns
William J. Johns is a war veteran and mercenary who was trusted to track down Riddick after he escaped from Slam City, and the primary human antagonist of Pitch Black. He captured Riddick and brought him to Butcher Bay, but upon discovering that he could not get as much of a reward as he wanted, helped Riddick escape. The Johns Chase Log on the Pitch Black special features tells of the events afterward: Riddick stabs Johns and leaves him for dead. Johns becomes a morphine addict after having it prescribed to him because of the wound, and then chases Riddick down while also avoiding other mercenaries on Riddick's trail. He eventually catches Riddick on the planet Aquila Major (featured in the opening scene of Chronicles of Riddick) by killing a child and threatening to kill more unless Riddick surrenders. He gets a seat on the transport vessel Hunter Gratzner, which crashes onto the Dark Planet in Pitch Black. Johns promises to free Riddick after the crash, as he states that he is tired of chasing him. The validity of this statement is unclear. Johns helps the crash survivors (though also impedes them with his self-centeredness) and by killing one of the bioraptors with a shotgun, learns of their weakness to light. However, after suggesting to kill Jack, Riddick wounds Johns mortally and leaves him for dead. Johns is killed shortly afterward when a bioraptor bites his head off.
He was played by Cole Hauser.
Purifier
A member of the Necromonger fleet, The Purifier revealed he was once Furyan like Riddick, before being converted. When Riddick falls unconscious after fighting the Necromonger fleet chasing him, the Purifier pulls him into the safety of the hangar and tells Riddick, "We all began as something else". Regretting what he has done under the Necromonger influence, the Purifier tells Riddick that the Furyan in him hopes he goes after the Lord Marshal, before committing suicide by walking into the sunlight of Crematoria.
Depending on how the prophecy in Chronicles is interpreted, the Purifier is actually the Furyan who brings about the Lord Marshal' downfall by saving Riddick and giving him the knife he would later use to kill the Lord Marshal.
Pope Joe
Pope Joe is a hermit that lives in the sewers of Butcher Bay. After Riddick retrieved his radio from the sewers, he heals Riddick, and is credited with giving him his "eyeshine" that he uses throughout the franchise to see in the dark, but is not the actual source.
Planets
All Chronicles of Riddick stories take place in the same shared universe. In it Humans have mastered space travel, and have colonized numerous planets.
Aquila Major
Seen destroyed during the opening scenes of The Chronicles of Riddick, Aquila Major appears to be very urban but also densely forested in many areas as well. After a devastating campaign against the Aquilans, the Lord Marshall orders the destruction of the planet with a massive bombardment known as the "Ascension Protocol".
Dark Planet
This planet went unnamed throughout the film, but was the primary setting for Pitch Black. A desolate desert planet, it experiences almost constant daylight hours from three suns. One will set, while the other two rise in a binary pair. However, once every 22 years, the planet will experience a weeks-long blackout, caused by neighboring planets eclipsing the suns. It has since been identified as M6-117 (actually the moon of a larger gas planet).
Crematoria
Described as one of the last remaining "triple maximum security" prisons, Crematoria (possibly named after a crematorium based on its daytime climate) is a harsh prison colony reserved for only the most dangerous criminals. The surface of the planet is not habitable, as the temperatures are in the wild extremes: 700f degrees on the daylit side and -300f degrees on the nighttime side. This makes the prison almost impossible to escape from, as there is only a buffer of about 20 minutes where travel on the surface is possible.
Furya
Furya was once a bustling planet whose inhabitants were fierce warriors (see below), but the Lord Marshall massacred the inhabitants in order to prevent the fulfillment of a prophecy that a Furyan would cause his downfall. This massacre takes place 30 years before The Chronicles of Riddick. An unknown number of Furyans managed to escape the devastation, but the planet is now "dead, with no life to speak of."
Helion Prime
A Major planet, Helion Prime is the location of the city "New Mecca" and home of Imam and his family. It is here where Riddick first learns of the Necromongers. New Mecca is taken over by Necromongers after a brief one night long battle between Necromongers and Helion troopers (although armed Helion resistance continues until Riddick kills the Lord Marshal), but gains freedom after Riddick slays the Lord Marshal. The only planet to be seen or at least mentioned in all three Riddick films.
Lupus Five
The planet where Kyra joined the mercenaries. It is mentioned in Chronicles of Riddick and is seen in the Hunt For Riddick game. It appears to be barren and over-industrialized, and contains a well-developed space transportation industry.
UV-6
First appearing in Chronicles of Riddick, this cold, barren planet is covered in ridged terrain that resembles giant fingerprints. Riddick hides here for five years.
Races
Furyan
The Furyans are a fictional race found in the series. Riddick is one of the last of surviving Furyans and, due to the events of The Chronicles of Riddick, the Alpha Furyan, which appears to be the strongest and (possibly) the leader of the Furyans. In the movie Pitch Black, Riddick says that his eyes received a "surgical shine job" on Butcher Bay, a prison planet, by a doctor for "20 menthol Kools," which he uses to explain his eyes' appearance, more than likely a way to increase his bravado. However, in The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay the player witnesses that the doctor, Pope Joe, only stitches up a gash on Riddick's arm after he retrieves Pope Joe's tie-dye colored radio, which he refers to as his "blessed voice box," not by receiving a pack of cigarettes as payment; we witness that it appears that the Eyeshine is, apparently, bestowed upon him, and we hear a woman's voice, explaining to Riddick what is happening to him (we also hear her voice at the beginning and ends of Butcher Bay). The Eyeshine, as stated before, was either given to him, or just came to him naturally, as stated in the novelization.
In The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, one of Antonia Chillingsworth's frozen specimens is labeled as a Furyan, saying "Furya" with the words "Killer Of Men" beneath the plaque.
As seen in the movies and mentioned in the novelization, Furyans themselves are impressive physical specimens; they are stronger, faster, tougher, more resistant to damage and injury, possess acute senses, immense stamina, and recover quicker than most of the Human races in the Riddick Universe. Riddick, the Alpha Furyan, the strongest and most powerful Furyan[citation needed], possesses "Eyeshine", which allows him to see in the dark (the Hellhounds of Crematoria also appear to possess eyeshine, but, as stated on The Chronicles of Riddick special features, this is purely coincidental). Whether this is a trait of Furyans (or the Alpha Furyan) has not been confirmed. Riddick himself, has obtained what is called either "The Wrath of the Furyans" or "The Furyan Rage", which is essentially the collective anguish, pain, suffering and anger of the billions of Furyans who didn't escape the Necromonger slaughter 30 years ago. He used it against Vaako and his Hunting Party of Necromonger Soldiers, which killed all of the Soldiers, except Vaako, and the Purifier. Riddick also used this technique against Abbott and his fellow prison guards in Butcher Bay, after being interrogated.
The extent of the physical abilities of a Furyan are unknown. Riddick himself has held his own against particularly difficult Dark Planet bioraptors (from Pitch Black); he also quickly re-set his arm back into place after it was dislocated by Johns, a bounty hunter trying to capture him, and he himself was able to dislocate and pop his own shoulders back in, in order to escape from being tied to the ship's bulkhead. He has also been shown to be very agile and athletic, moving surprisingly fast for a man his size and weight, being able to cover great distances and not tire out as easily as normal humans; he can also leap impressive distances, and can perform otherwise practically impossible physical feats that most humans would be hard-pressed to duplicate.
Elementals
The Elementals are a fictional race from the film The Chronicles of Riddick. The one that is seen in the film (Aereon) is humanoid and is seemingly composed of nothing more than dense air. She becomes transparent when in the presence of blowing winds and, because of her negligible mass, she can glide through the air for extended periods of time (which is often confused with an ability to fly). The novelization by Alan Dean Foster states that the Elementals are an offshoot of humanity. One of the Necromongers refers to her as an Air Elemental (which in classical ceremonial magic is what Paracelsus calls a sylph). And the novel also hints that there are fire, water, and earth type Elementals; but no other members of this race are seen in the film. According to the DVD, there are also elementals that represent Aether.
As portrayed in the film, the Elementals are a logical race, deciding their actions on complex calculations rather than on personal opinions or emotion. They are largely a neutral people, apparently unwilling to participate in the conflicts that they view as beneath them, but take action when their calculations show that their intervention is necessary. The Necromongers point out that the Elementals don't seem to believe in any god. Dame Vaako in the film refers to them as witches and spies, which is likely meant simply to provoke Aereon.
Vin Diesel says that in the next film he will meet fire and water Elementals, possibly explaining more of their society and evolution.
The only other possible Elemental seen is a mentally offset prisoner in Escape From Butcher Bay who considers himself to be an Elemental king.
Necromongers
The Necromongers are a fictional death cult of warriors, who conquer planets as they make their way to the Underverse. Their leader, as Vaako states is the "holy half-dead Lord Marshal", who systematically commands his Necromonger Legion Vast to overrun worlds and convert its inhabitants into Necromongers; those that oppose conversion die. The Lord Marshal launched a personal crusade against Furya, after being told that a Furyan (Riddick) would lead to his downfall.
References
- ^ "11.13.07 THE STRIKE and THE NEXT RIDDICK". David Twohy, David Twohy News.
- ^ "Vin Diesel Promises Two More Riddick Sequels". Shawn Adler, MTV Movies Blog.
- ^ "Vin Diesel Talks riddick sequels". Orlando Parfitt, IGN UK.
External links
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