The Capcom Animated Universe: An Alternate Capcom/White Wolf Timeline

[Razor Ryu Ramirez]

The Introduction​

We all know about Resident Evil and how it was a roller coaster of groundbreaking landmark games and utter shit titles as well and how Capcom's best-selling franchise was also given a series of "in name only" movie adaptations starring Mila Jovovich and we all know about the meteoric rise and subsequent shameful fall of White Wolf, the tabletop RPG mavericks of the 90's.

But what if things played out a little differently? What if video gaming and anime were able to further break into the proper mainstream culture? And what if it was an experimental TV adaptation of the Resident Evil franchise that helped ensure that happened?

Okay, this is a pop culture TL that is mainly focused on a Capcom shared universe that is started off with the premiere of the anime-styled Resident Evil: The Animated Series which was a joint Japanese-American production that debuts on the fledgling FX channel in 2000. While mainly focused on gaming, anime, and TV, this TL will also explore the wider effects on the pop culture.

This is a rough outline and summary, and the actual TL will be explored in-depth more.

The POD is 1995 or so, when Mark Rein-Hagen is more or less caught in a power struggle within White Wolf. Capcom's own deal with White Wolf is still in effect at this time, and Rein-Hagen realizes he's about to be ousted by the new guard and so he decides to sell all his shares in White Wolf to Capcom. As a consequence, the infamous metaplot that developed in the later editions of the World of Darkness games doesn't happen in this TL while Kindred: The Embraced is greenlit by Fox but is not actually produced in 1996.

The first three Resident Evil games are developed and released more or less the same in OTL. But then in 1999, Capcom gets a deal with Fox to begin a horror animated series based on Resident Evil. It is a joint production between Fox and a smaller anime studio in Japan, and the show has a distinct art style and aesthetic that is more or less in tune with the edgy violent OVA's of the 80's and early 90's.

Because the show is TV-MA, Fox does not want it on their main network and instead places it on FX, and from here the show becomes an unexpected success. As a consequence, a wider animated universe develops around it, featuring other Capcom games and some of the IP's acquired from the White Wolf buyout.

Other butterfly effects will happen in this TL as well, but you'll have to find out as the TL is developed

 

[Razor Ryu Ramirez]

Metro City by Night
A Fan Site for Capcom and White Wolf
​

How's everybody doing out there over in Internet Land? I'm Steve and this is my blog where we will be discussing the pop culture of my time, and in particular we're going to be discussing the Capcom Animated Universe and how this juggernaut of a franchise was able to keep going for a decade and a half and actually went out on top.

Beginning with the debut of Resident Evil: The Animated Series in March of 2000 and ending with the finale of World of Darkness: Unlimited in October of 2012 followed by the final installment of the Marvel vs. Capcom film trilogy the following June, the wider Capcom Animated Universe was a cornerstone of 2000's pop culture and even though its end was less than a decade ago, I still kind of miss it here in 2020.

Well, let's begin with how Resident Evil: The Animated Series first came about. Back in 1999, hot off the success of Resident Evil 2 the previous year, Capcom wanted to expand their hot new franchise into other forms of media. There was already a comic book series by Wildstorm and later that year, the professional wrestler Allen Jones debuted in WWF as Night Hawk, a masked commando who was sent to WWF by the Umbrella Corporation and was heavily derived from the character HUNK in Resident Evil 2. Alongside "The Brood", a stable centered around Vampire: The Masquerade, Capcom was licensing these gimmicks as part of a wider push into mainstream pop culture. They were very meticulous and each project was carefully monitored, especially following the flop of the Street Fighter movie adaptation in 1994.

It was in early October of 1999, right as Resident Evil 3: Nemesis was selling like hotcakes that Tetsuya Nomura, having taken a temporary leave of absence from SquareSoft but allowed to work as a freelancer for Capcom/White Wolf (provided he did not work in the video game sectors, of course) had an idea as he was on a vacation in New York City and had by chance encountered Mark Rein-Hagen, founder of White Wolf and now tasked with the wider effort to get Capcom IP's out into the mainstream on TV.

Rein-Hagen had previously been in negotiations with Fox and famed producer Aaron Spelling for a TV adaptation of Vampire: The Masquerade titled Kindred: The Embraced and while the project was greenlit and 20th Century Fox had the media rights, the show remained unproduced and it was debated on how one could effectively translate an RPG into a television show. Nomura suggested to Rein-Hagen that the show could be animated, as it would be likely easier than excessive special effects done in a live-action show. A few days later and by October 12 of that year, Capcom greenlit and announced Resident Evil: The Animated Series for a debut in the spring of the following year. Using the contract White Wolf had established with Fox, Capcom made sure to make the TV show part of a wider shared universe, something that had been attempted with superhero cartoons earlier in the 90's such as Batman: The Animated Series or the X-Men cartoon adaptation.

Going all out and sparing no expense, Capcom wanted something with a gritty anime art style reminiscent of the old violent OVA's of the 1980's and early 1990's, and the show would feature a dynamic oldies and classic rock soundtrack with authentic licensed songs, which Capcom paid for extensively and even ensured that it would be in perpetuity for syndication and home video releases. Because of the show's graphic content, it would be rated TV-MA and Capcom insisted on no censorship beyond the bare minimum. Fox executives were worried, but were able to compromise by letting the show debut on the fledgling basic cable channel FX, fearing the show would bomb badly and they could cancel it after the first season.

By late October 1999, Fox began airing the first teasers for the show, namely during the Treehouse of Horror X debut on Halloween Night and the Night of the Headless Horseman special that aired earlier that week. People were surprised and often spooked by it, but fans were very happy and it began to be the subject of widespread speculation on the internet and in video game press.

In January of the following year, more extensive trailers and promos began to air on Fox, Fox Family, and FX. The cast was even officially announced, most of them were relatively unknown voice actors but a few names stood out. The initial cast for the first season of the show were as followed.

Max Brooks
Susan Roman
Lara Jill Miller
Hank Azaria
Johnny Hardwick
Clancy Brown
Phil Hartman

Susan Roman and Max Brooks were voice actors, the former known mainly for being the voice of Sailor Jupiter and the latter was more known for being the son of Mel Brooks than for his acting work. Lara Jill Miller was a former child actress who had been on Gimme a Break! back in the 80's and had made her voice acting debut on the anime Digimon: Digital Monsters, which was airing on Fox Kids. Hank Azaria and Johnny Hardwick were already regulars on The Simpsons and King of the Hill, and Clancy Brown was an interesting choice but it was the inclusion of Phil Hartman that had shocked everyone and garnered a lot of new interest in the show.

Phil Hartman had taken a break from acting and comedy shortly after the suicide of his wife in 1998, who shot herself in a manic drug-fueled rage while Phil was out buying some groceries. He had gotten stuck in traffic and came home late, arriving mere seconds after his wife had pulled the trigger on herself. Completely devastated by the death of his wife, he announced he would not be working until further notice. Many assumed he was retiring from show business altogether. But there was something that convinced him to return to the entertainment industry with this strange new anime-esque horror series. Resident Evil fans were speculating on what Hartman's role would be, with many assuming it would be Barry Burton. The actual answer was even more mind-blowing and amazing when the show actually aired its first episode.

Then on March 16, 2000 at 10:00 PM, the debut episode of Resident Evil: The Animated Series would premiere on FX.

A disclaimer aired shortly before the start of the show, narrated by John Larroquette of all people.

The following program is for mature audiences. It contains graphic scenes of violence, blood, and gore. Viewer discretion is advised.

And then the opening credits began to roll, set to the opening part of this song...

With aerial shots of the Arklay Mountains, montages of newspaper clippings from Raccoon City's newspapers, and finally a close up of Chris Redfield shrieking at an unknown entity in the hallway of the mansion, the same voice that narrated the earlier disclaimer announced the show's title...

RESIDENT EVIL

 

[Razor Ryu Ramirez]

Welcome to the second installment of my retrospective blog, and today we will be discussing the first season of Resident Evil: The Animated Series, which debuted on March 16, 2000 on FX and ended on May 18 that same year.

The ten episodes and their airdates were as follows....

S1E1: Welcome to S.T.A.R.S (3-16-2000)
S1E2: The Arklay Murders (3-23-2000)
S1E3: Becky's Big Adventure (3-30-2000)
S1E4: The Spencer Mansion (4-6-2000)
S1E5: Stay Alert, Stay Alive (4-13-2000)
S1E6: The Master of Unlocking (4-20-2000)
S1E7: Plant Food (4-27-2000)
S1E8: Once More Onto The Breach (5-4-2000)
S1E9: The Laboratory (5-11-2000)
S1E10: Sic Semper Tyrannis (5-18-2000)

The main cast that year were as follows...

Max Brooks as Chris Redfield
Susan Roman as Jill Valentine
Clancy Brown as Barry Burton
Lara Jill Miller as Rebecca Chambers
Phil Hartman as Albert Wesker
Johnny Hardwick as Enrico Marini
Hank Azaria as Brad Vickers
Derek Stephen Prince as Richard Aiken
Rino Romano as Forrest Speyer

Opening Theme: Layla by Derek & The Dominos (the opening riffs and first verse)
Closing Theme: Layla by Derek & The Dominos (the piano segment in the second half of the song)

The first season was more or less based on the events of the first game and was essentially a fleshed-out retelling of the first game, with some elements borrowed from the cancelled Resident Evil Zero that was planned for the Nintendo 64. It was a fairly short season comprised of ten episodes but it performed like gangbusters and the season finale was among the top ten highest-rated cable programs in its timeslot.

The pilot episode was decent and serves as an introductory episode, focusing on Rebecca Chambers' first day on the S.T.A.R.S unit. It's a fairly mundane episode that only has quick glimpses of the horror that's about to happen and only one real scene of graphic violence near the end of the episode when some punk and goth types partying in an old cemetery close to the mansion are attacked by a group of zombies, but it's good enough of an episode and serves as an introductory episode just fine.

The next two episodes are about Bravo Team's ill-fated mission responding to the attacks and are once again told from the point of view of Rebecca Chambers. The second episode is eerily reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project and other hillbilly horrors as it's mainly set in the woodlands of the Arklay Mountains, and this is when we see more zombies. The zombies in this are mainly a few hobos, the goths and punks from the previous episode's last ending scene and some rednecks who lived out in the woods and the episode's third act mainly take place in a recently abandoned drive-in theater where some of the audience and employees are now zombified, along with a few zombie dogs. Fittingly, the drive-in is playing Night of the Living Dead on the screen, and the editing of the live-action footage from Romero's movie with the mostly animated series is actually done very well. The third episode focuses almost entirely on Bravo Team making their way through an Umbrella warehouse adjacent to the Spencer Mansion, and the third act shows the team finally entering the mansion grounds and the team more or less being forced to split up thanks to a pack of Cerberus that escaped from their kennel

We finally catch glimpses of the mansion with the Bravo Team's surviving members regrouping in the medicine storage room, with Kenneth and Forrest being sent out to scout around the mansion for more clues. The final scene shows Kenneth in a small parlor at the end of the hallway looking back directly at the camera with a startled look in his eyes. The screen cuts to black and a bloodcurdling female scream is heard before the credits.

Episode 4 more or less retells the first act of Resident Evil 1, and the iconic opening scene with Jill, Barry, and Wesker in the front hall is recreated in a decidedly serious and non-cheesy form. Chris is shown making his way in through a broken window as opposed to the front door and everyone's under the assumption that Rebecca is dead since we finally see the fates of Kenneth and Forrest Speyer, although unlike the game, Chris manages to see Forrest alive on the outdoor balcony shortly before the crows attack him and as Forrest is dying, Chris heads in to find Rebecca safe and sound, saying that Enrico gave her the order to stay behind and hold the fort until Alpha Team had finally arrived for backup.

Episode 5 is mainly focused on the mansion segments, but more from Chris's perspective than Jill's, and this is when we finally see the Yawn as well in the show's third act, with Jill fighting it and severely wounding the serpent. Unlike the game, Richard Aiken plays a more prominent role and we even get to see him before he is bitten by Yawn.

Episode 6 and 7 are the guardhouse and courtyard segments and has a few shout-outs to slasher movies with the character of Justin Gump, a redneck hermit and serial killer who is more or less a copy of Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th Part 2 (complete with the pillowcase over his head) and Gump is mainly stalking the survivors and killing zombies and humans alike. We see him get bitten by one of the dogs in the first act of Episode 7, but he shakes it off and when he finally dies in the basement of the guardhouse in the third act, it's revealed he's partially zombified but was early enough in the process that he was still able to use a machete and show some cognitive reasoning. While Chris and Rebecca fight Justin Gump and the Neptune, Barry and Jill deal with Plant 42.

Episode 8 focuses on the escape plan from the mansion and features the death of Enrico Marini partway through the episode's second act, who had been wounded by Justin in the previous episode and dies in the underground tunnels and ducts connecting the mansion basement to a wing of the guardhouse basement. New monsters featured in this episode include Black Tiger, the Web Spinners, Hunters, and even the Ticks from the Sega Saturn version of the first game (they were more or less a reskin of the Hunters, but were insectoid as opposed to reptilian)

Episode 9 and 10 are all about the laboratory and finally figuring out the full story of the T-Virus, the existence of Tyrant T-002 and Wesker's diabolical plan. The tenth episode in particular is a thrill ride with the presumed death of Wesker at the hands of the newly freed Tyrant and Jill and Barry fighting off the creature in the main lab room before meeting up with Chris and Rebecca. The four then secure their escape and set up the self-destruct system to try and prevent further spread of the virus since the explosion will also intentionally set off chain reactions such as a large forest fire and the release of several large canisters containing highly toxic anti-viral and anti-septic chemicals and the third act is a climatic final encounter with the Tyrant followed by the escape from the mansion mere minutes before its destruction. A post-credits scene features a still shot of a gas station at night and audio of a recorded phone call, the voice being Wesker and an unknown benefactor. It's unclear if this call is meant to be before or after the mansion's destruction but Wesker does state that "It is finished, everything is neatly put in place for the plan"